Goyts
by SWFicWriters
Summary: Jedi masters Eeth Koth, Drex Zaryth and Lakhri Tumuel and their padawans are sent to the planet of Barslaa to save a species of Force-sensitive animals from extinction. Warning: This story contains frequent spanking scenes of a non-sexual, disciplinary nature and occasional coarse language. We do not endorse the spanking of real children. Obviously, this is fiction.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: "Goyts" is, in part, a continuation of our Drex and Kaden saga, the four previous parts of which are "A Padawan, a Master and a Matchmaker," "The Generation Gap," "Patience" and "Endurance". It is also a continuation of another storyline we've been role-playing extensively for years, with Jedi master Eeth Koth and his second padawan, Raven Trebeck, as the main characters. Eeth's former padawan Lakhri Tumuel and Lakhri's padawan Flynt are also featuring prominently. We intend to post further stories involving Eeth, Raven, Lakhri and Flynt soon. For now, "Goyts" brings those four together with Drex and Kaden for an unusual type of mission. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we had writing it!

Although it might be a better reading experience if you have read our prequels, it is not critical as each story can stand alone. We'd like to thank all of those who have given us feedback and stayed with us. We hope you're going to enjoy this one as well. Like its prequels, this story emerged from online role-playing, so it involves alternating points of view that we will edit into story format. It contains some coarse language, and many scenes of discipline, including – sometimes severe – spanking of a non-sexual nature, meted out by adults to children. If this bothers you, don't read it. Very simple. We're neither intending this to be parenting advice literature nor a realistic description of childhood; it's fiction, and a type of fiction we happen to enjoy writing and hope some of you enjoy reading

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Jedi master Eeth Koth frowned in thought as he and his padawan Raven made their way from the Council chamber. Being a member of the Jedi High Council himself, he had summoned her out of a workout she had been engaged in when the need arose. And that need had to do with the fact that Raven was among the very few Jedi who had a particular gift of connecting with animals through the Force, and had been trained to make use of it. At nineteen years of age, she had become quite accomplished at this. She was at a stage of her training where being called out of a training session was not exactly an unusual occurrence. Eeth and Raven were on missions more often than not these days, and a prolonged stay at the Temple was unlikely.

The Council had explained the basics of their upcoming mission to Raven but kept the briefing to a minimum since the pair would have little time to pack. The other Council members relied on Eeth to provide the details of what had been discussed before Raven's arrival, and that was what he started to do now.

"The first thing I want you to do once we are back at our quarters," he said, "is to look at the available teams and appoint two of them to our mission. As you have been told, we need to save a Force-sensitive species that we know little about from extinction. The species is called 'goyts' and there are at least a couple of hundred of them left that we have to rescue. The two of us simply will not be enough to deal with such a number, even with your level of skill. We have determined that six persons ought to be the minimum number we need. Now, I would have gladly asked for the support of other Jedi who are specialists in working with animals, such as Master Drkai Luthan, but none of them can be spared right now. Most of them are not even at the Temple. Nor will it be feasible to ask for the assignment of master-padawan teams with padawans who are as advanced as you are. With the constant crises going on in the Antar and Pherebes systems, the most experienced teams currently need to be reserved for critical missions. Thus, we are looking for masters whose padawans are around fifteen to seventeen years of age. Those are not skilled enough to be sent into war zones yet, but advanced enough to leave on missions that might take significantly longer than a few days. They should have some mission experience and be strong enough to help with the physical work that will doubtlessly be involved in rescuing a whole population of goyts from their collapsing ecosystem. The Council have put together a list of eight teams that fulfill these requirements. We will have to leave in two hours, so the choice and notification of our support teams is the most urgent item on our agenda. And since you are the expert on working with animals, it should be your choice to make. Most other things we will be able to take care of on our flight to Barslaa, which will take four days. The ship is currently being stocked with everything we might need; anything else, we will be able to procure on Barslaa."

"A couple hundred! That's a lot, considering we know little or nothing about them," Raven remarked as they entered the hall that would take them to their quarters. They walked in silence for another minute or so. The tall, dark Zabrak and the petite, blonde human were quite a striking pair, not that they took much notice. While they walked, Raven quietly absorbed all that Eeth had told her. She was glad they'd have at least another two teams at their disposal as she suspected they were going to need the help!

Once at their quarters, Eeth brought up the list of potential support teams for Raven's perusal. As a matter of fact, he knew that the list contained two teams that he and his padawan were highly familiar with and that might be a good choice. He was going to leave the decision to her, though. She was old enough to learn how to make such decisions. And how else could she gain leadership experience?

Raven's lip pulled into a grin, and then it morphed into a full smile as she came across the familiar names in the file Eeth had supplied. "Lakhri and Flynt, Drex and Kayden," she spoke loudly enough so that Eeth could hear her from his room where he was busy packing.

The door to Eeth's room was open so she entered, data pad still in hand. "We've worked with all of them before which will be an advantage over choosing one of the other teams," she clarified lest Eeth think her choice purely selfish. Well, there was an element of that; Raven liked the four Jedi she had chosen and would be lying if she said that having them around would not be fun.

"True," said Eeth curtly. "Is that your only reason for choosing them?" He hoped not. Granted, they had to make this decision fast but that did not mean it was impossible to put some thought into it.

"No, Master," Raven replied. When Eeth failed to answer that, merely giving her a deadpan expression instead, she elaborated. "Drex's decades of experience and heightened senses are an asset to any mission. He'll be useful given that we have no idea what to expect from the goyts, and," she paused for effect, "have you seen Kaden lately? He's turning into a tank. He'll be a huge help with the manual labor side. Flynt's a master at fire manipulation and Lakhri's overall prowess with Force work will add significantly to the success of our mission. Plus, he's conveniently travel-sized and I like it when he teases you."

Eeth had to smile at the comment on Lakhri's size; his former padawan was growth-restricted. "The only drawback to taking Lakhri," he said with a rather unusual degree of humour, which showed that he was pleased with Raven's choice, "is that we will need to replenish our food stores a lot more often than we would otherwise have to. But, yes, I agree with you. These two teams will be a good choice. Please call them and ask them to be at hangar two at 1:00, bringing full mission gear."

This was a first. Normally, Eeth had been the one to take care of such things. But Raven had reached a point in her training where he thought she should be entrusted with more responsibility and opportunities to assert her authority. She needed to make the transition to knighthood within the next few years, after all.

It did not occur to Raven that this was the first time she'd been given this responsibility until she had actually punched in Drex's comm code and was waiting for him to answer. When he did, she had a big, slightly nervous, smile on her face, not that the blind Hrakian could see it. "Master Zaryth," she greeted him, forbearing to bow given that this, too, would be lost on the sightless Jedi. "Master and I have been called to Barslaa in order to rescue a large animal population from a crumbling ecosystem. We've been given two teams to help us. Master Tumuel and his padawan Flynt are one of them; yourself and Kaden are the other one. Please pack full mission gear and be at hangar bay 2L by 1:00. We'll fill you in on the details then." Raven had heard Eeth deliver this message a million times during her apprenticeship. He was always polite, succinct and formal.

"Thank you," Drex replied simply. "We will be there on time." He would need to find Kaden and get him to come home from classes immediately so they could pack their mission gear. There was no time for pleasantries; those could wait until they were on board the ship.

Raven's second call was made with a lot less formality. Sure, she knew Drex well, but Lakhri and Flynt were the closest thing she had to a family at the Temple. "Flynnnttt! You still fit in the one holoprojection today. Can I assume that upon reaching 2.15m you've finally stopped growing?"

"Watch it, squirtling, or I'll sit on you again," Flynt replied, pointing a robotic finger at his Jedi aunt.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that. You're not still dark over that last sparring session, are you? You know I can always let you win if it bugs you that much."

Flynt was about to give some smart-ass retort when a much smaller figure entered the projection beside him.

Raven bowed low. "Heya, Lakhri! I have news that unfortunately doesn't involve kicking Flynt all over the aerials gym again," the teen quipped and repeated what she had told Drex earlier, adding a few details. "They're called goyts, a relatively unknown species. So I expect we will have our hands full."

"Oh joy," Lakhri said wryly. "Well, at least I've got Eeth to drag me out of bed at six, so that will be something to look forward to. Or not." He was not entirely serious, of course; he was rather fond of his former master even though he must be the strictest Jedi master in the Temple. When he heard that the third team were Drex and Kaden, he fleetingly wondered whether there had been a mistake. Just how unlikely was it that Eeth and Raven got to work with the two teams in the Temple that they were closest to? On second thought, Eeth was not known to make mistakes, so this was probably legit. And it was not that Lakhri was against it. He knew Drex and Kaden only fleetingly, but Drex had a reputation of being extremely competent, despite his old age, and a rather nice person, too.

None of the four Jedi in question had a lot of time to prepare themselves, but that was part of their lives; all of them were used to it except, maybe, for Kaden who had comparatively less mission experience. Drex and Kaden arrived a few minutes early and were met by Eeth at the ramp. Lakhri hurried into the hangar at exactly one o'clock (or possibly a few seconds later), his gangly seventeen-year-old padawan in tow.

"There you are," said Eeth, throwing his former padawan a half-stern look. But even Eeth was not going to raise a fuss over a few seconds. "Let us go inside. Raven is already preparing the ship for take-off."

Once the group was inside, Flynt turned to face Eeth. "Grandmaster, I do hope you have eaten your one padawan for the day," he said in a jovial tone and offered the man a formal bow. He had started a rumour when he was eleven that Eeth actually ate apprentices, subsequently terrifying half the younglings in the Temple. He hadn't expected it to take off so well. He coughed once, trying to cover a slight chuckle at that memory.

"Master Zaryth, Kaden, it's good to meet you." Again, he offered the two a bow and then fell silent.

Kaden recalled that rumour although he'd still been in the junior crèche at the time. "Master Eeth, Flynt. Likewise," he replied and offered the pair a curt bow. Eeth returned the bow, ignoring Flynt's remark with supreme dignity.

Meanwhile, Raven was in her personal version of heaven. She was kicked back in the pilot's seat, one foot tucked up under her butt and the other tapping at the base of her chair as she worked. Lights, switches, dials and a plethora of beeps and tones were sounded as the teen went about setting their course. By this stage, her interest in flying had led her to become quite a good pilot, and it didn't take her long to have them off out of the hangar and into the traffic lane that would take them up to the jump point. Traffic was heavy around this time of day, but it was of no consequence to Raven. She used the Force to augment her instruments which meant they hit the stratosphere fast. "Jumping in five," she said over the comm unit, warning everyone that they were about to make the leap to hyperspace. It also gave Eeth a chance to come and check her work should he feel the need, not that he had done this in a while.

Eeth was busy with some last-minute communication with the Council, so Lakhri briefly glanced into the cockpit to see whether Raven needed help, which she didn't. Then, together with Drex, he sorted out who was to move into which room. The ship was only equipped with two-bunk cabins, but those were relatively spacious, at least. Each cabin had a private refresher in deference to the fact that they would have to make quite some trip to bring the goyts to their new destination - which, in fact, would yet have to be determined from among several possible habitats that had been proposed by the Temple's science department. There was simply not enough information on the goyts and their habits as yet.

When Eeth was done with his call, he came to collect Lakhri, Drex and their padawans. "Let us sit in the galley and discuss our mission objectives. Raven is about to take us into hyperspace and will join us shortly," he said.

"Why does she get to do all the flying? You do know that I'm seventeen now, right?" Flynt commented.

"What, that old already?" said Lakhri mock-innocently, rolling his eyes. "Has it been that many years?" He had never been particularly patient with jealousy, and when he was impatient, sarcasm was usually his way of showing it.

"Honestly, Flynt," he continued more seriously, "you know perfectly well that I know how old you are. You also know that Raven is two years older than you. She's been cleared to pilot without supervision, you haven't. So having her fly saved us all a lot of time, and apparently, we're in a rush for reasons that I'm sure Eeth will inform us of shortly."

Despite feeling a little hard done-by at missing out, Flynt didn't continue to gripe and nodded his head once at Lakhri's sarcasm; he was right even if the teen didn't like it.

Kaden, too, had felt a pang of jealousy at hearing Raven was piloting, but given that he had just turned fifteen years old, being denied such things was something of a common occurrence. Thus, he said nothing despite having two years of flight training under his belt.

They followed Eeth into the galley without a word. Drex was drawing on his sense of the Force to familiarise himself with the ship and where everything was. That way, he wouldn't need to constantly concentrate to keep from falling over things. When they reached the galley Kaden pulled out two stools, one for Drex and one for himself, and sat. Eeth, Lakhri and Flynt also found themselves spots at the large round table just as the subtle jolt signalled that their ship had entered hyperspace. Eeth lost no time in starting to summarise the objectives of this mission, briefly and succinctly.

Through the cockpit windows, Raven could watch the stars turning to stripes outside. It was a sight she would never tire of seeing. She set about inputting the autopilot settings, checked the readouts and instruments and exited the cockpit to find the others. Eeth had just finished his first, brief summary and looked up at his padawan.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

Raven nodded. "There is an asteroid belt at 45,08,36," she said. "We'll need to disengage and manually navigate. It's only a small section, so I deemed the minor disruption worth the time it would have taken to detour around it." Raven hugged Lakhri from behind and gave her 'nephew' a bump with her hip. Then she sat down on the only vacant stool and pulled out her data pad.

"If Eeth or I have time to supervise, you can do that, Flynt," said Lakhri. Eeth gave a curt nod of consent.

Hearing that he'd be allowed to navigate the asteroid belt bought a smile to the tall, scruffy-haired teen's face. "Sweet! The dream team will be in tha house," Flynt said, clearly pleased with this turn of events. Flynt had always been a smart-ass with a well-developed sense of humour that complimented Lakhri's perfectly. The two bantered and bounced off each other with an ease that went beyond simple friendship; their pairing had, of course, been Force-willed, but the bonds they had formed in their roles as master and apprentice, father and son, friend to friend were what made that connection all the stronger.

"Before Eeth tells us more about the details of the mission," Drex said calmly, "I would like to make something clear, just so there are no misunderstandings. Each of the masters who are part of this mission team has the right to give orders to any padawan, and we will expect these orders to be obeyed."

"Indeed," said Eeth. "I should add that, once we have arrived at our destination, I will expect everyone to listen to Raven because she is the only expert we have got on our team. This goes for Kaden and Flynt in particular, but also for us masters as long as Raven's instructions are not obviously implausible."

Lakhri and Drex nodded. Lakhri was thankful to Drex for having brought this up. He frequently was forced to assert his authority to padawans who did not know him. He was well capable of doing so if necessary, but he much preferred it if the hierarchy was clear from the outset.

Kaden and Raven nodded as well. Not only had they worked together in the past but they had also encountered this very issue during that work. Raven had not thought much of the golden-skinned, blind Hrakian and his then thirteen-year-old apprentice with anger issues. To be precise, she had thought them to be more trouble than they were worth. She hadn't wanted to babysit this team. They had a job to do! As it turned out, Drex had proved more than competent, a point that he'd driven home when he and Eeth switched places to discipline their wards. Raven had been utterly horrified. That memory flitted through both Raven's and Kaden's minds, causing the two to exchange knowing glances and, in Raven's case, a very slight smile.

"So, Raven's in charge? Shall I address thee as 'Master Trebeck'?" Flynt quipped, hoping to lighten the mood. He had noticed the exchange between the two and added a mental note to find out the details later. Of course, he himself had made his experiences; when he had become Lakhri's padawan and Lakhri had had to leave him in Eeth's care for a few days, Flynt had been quite indignant at being told what to do by his new grandmaster. Eeth had quickly and effectively cured him of that indignation!

"You may," Raven replied, her nose in the air, "although I don't want to go making the masters jealous. You know how they can get." The latter was added in a stage whisper, but the smile on the petite blonde's face was unmistakably cheeky.

Eeth gave her a LOOK. "Do not get big-headed," he said rather matter-of-factly. He just hoped for Raven's sake that she would not start exploiting the authority he had given her. At the same time, he needed for Kaden and Flynt to know that Raven was in charge where the goyts were concerned.

Raven ignored his mild rebuke; she was used to Eeth's lack of humour by now.

Eeth proceeded to provide more details on their assignment. The last existing population of goyts – probably no more than a couple of hundred – was living in the last remaining swamp lands on Barslaa. There must have been hundreds of thousands of them, at some point, in the vast swamps that used to cover the planet before the colonists arrived. The species had been discovered by a travelling Jedi who had some business with the colonists on Barslaa and had noticed that the goyts were extremely Force-sensitive. Unfortunately, there were few of them left, partly due to the fact that hunting colonists liked their meat and partly due to the irrigation systems that were destroying all the swamps. The Jedi had reported the situation to the Temple, but had not been able to do anything about it. The colonists, were unwilling to give up their hunting habits, and they were equally unwilling to protect the swamps from being turned into farmland. This would certainly prove fatal to the Force-sensitive creatures in the very near future. Moving them was the only option to prevent their extinction and it had to happen fast. They could only hope that the species would prove able to adapt to a new environment.

"We know hardly anything about the ways in which they are Force-sensitive, about their needs and habits," Eeth said, projecting a hologram of a goyt into the space above the centre of the table. It was a small animal with white fur and horns. Where one might expect hooves, they had flat, disk-shaped feet with webbed toes, probably to allow them to navigate the swamps without sinking.

"They have a luminous glow at times," Eeth said, "but apparently they can turn that on and off at will in order to protect themselves from predators. There are no predators left on Barslaa, but there must have been some in the not-so-distant past, which is good because the environment that we will transfer them to will certainly have predators and they will need to protect themselves. Now, we do not know yet where we will bring them. We have a list of possible planets that host suitable, protected environments. Which one we choose – and I will leave that choice largely to Raven – will depend on what we can find out about the goyts' needs and preferences while on Barslaa. A detailed description of all options is contained in our mission briefing which all of us have received on their terminals and which we will all study closely during this trip. You will also find information about Barslaa and the colonists there, but practically nothing about the goyts since we simply do not know much. Raven, can you give us an overview of the types of Force-related traits that are known to exist in animal species so that we have an idea what to expect?"

The girl had made notes as Eeth spoke, jotting down the points of interest and things she might need to look into. She looked up at Eeth's question and tapped her stylus on the pad thoughtfully. "It's hard to say," she said after a moment's contemplation. "The most well-known is the Ysalamiri."

"A Yasla-mir-what-now?" Kaden asked.

"They're a lizard-like tree-dweller native to Myrkr. Quite amazing, really. They repel the Force by creating a Force-neutral bubble."

"Yeah," Flynt cut in. "Get enough of those together and they can void the Force for kilometres."

Raven nodded, and when it was clear Kaden planned to say nothing else, continued. "A little less popular, but no less impressive are the Hssiss, or 'dark side dragons'. Again, they're reptiles. Rather than repel the Force, they have the ability to influence Force-sensitive beings. They can also conceal themselves with uncanny efficiency. It hasn't been proven that the latter is Force-related, though."

Raven continued to rattle off species and their abilities and by the time she had exhausted her memory they had added: horns that channel a Force-push so strong it could flatten large areas of vegetation; a Force-manipulated whistle that had a soothing effect; skeletal systems impervious to lightsaber strikes; both telekinetic and telekinesis abilities; and finally, sensitivity to Force wielders.

"The latter would be handy for obvious reasons," Raven explained. "There are more, and I can come up with a complete list of all the possibilities later. It's unlikely the goyts will be anything like silan or sith hounds."

"I don't think I want to know what a sith hound or silan is," Flynt commented, scratching at some chin stubble that he'd been forced to shave off. "Let's hope they aren't territorial. That will make transporting them a pain in the ass."

"From what Knight Oynn told us during the Council meeting," Eeth said, "they are herd animals. They used to roam huge swamp lands before the planet was colonised, following the growth seasons. One of the reasons for which they are hunted is the fact that they eat the colonists' crops. None of these crops, however, are plants that are endemic to Barslaa. Still, the goyts have no trouble eating them. This made the Council hopeful that it will be possible to transfer them."

"Judging from common sense, it should be," said Drex. "Of course, though, every species is unique. We will just have to find out."

"Well, if letting them stay on Barslaa means they are going to be extinct soon," said Lakhri, "it's not as if we can do much harm, is it?" He was very practical that way. Seeing the expression on Eeth's face, he grinned.

"I know," he said cheerfully. "Failure is not among your mission objectives. Nor is it among mine, don't worry. You know we'll all give our best, you needn't remind us."

"Indeed," said Eeth calmly. "The fact that Raven is the only animal specialist notwithstanding, we have a team of highly accomplished Jedi here. I am confident that we will find a solution to prevent the goyts' extinction."

"So we have a bunch of mini Force-sensitive banthas to wrangle, cool," Flynt commented, earning a very slight smile from Kaden.

The boy suspected he would be doing a lot of grunt work on this mission and hoped that Raven's skills would save him from busting his ass each day.

"It would be good if that were the case," Raven commented. "Bantha are entirely manageable. I'm not so sure the goyts will be that easy." She eyed the projection Eeth had put up with skepticism. They looked agile, and who knew what their Force abilities would turn out to be.

"Can we eat?" Kaden asked, hoping that they could supplement this meeting with food.

Eeth frowned.

Lakhri threw him a grin and said: "Great idea. Knowing that we would have to live off spaceship food, I packed a huge box of sandwiches."

"Good planning," Drex said with a smile. Raven had once mentioned that Lakhri's appetite was nearly or fully equal to Kaden's. And that was saying something because Kaden was currently putting in several growth spurts at once.

Raven rolled her eyes at Lakhri and Kaden. She had never been a big eater unless, of course, they were on a mission where food was scarce. Then the teen could eat with the best of them.

"Alright," said Eeth, relenting. "In any case, it would be best if we all read the mission briefing before we talk further."

"And let's look at the ship and see where we're supposed to put the goyts," Lakhri said. "While we're at it, we can have a workout."

"Allow me," Flynt stated, getting up from his chair and opening the cooler. "We got pickles and meat, egg lettuce and mayo, meat cheese and tomato and –" He looked at Raven and tossed a plain salad her way – "plain salad. Who wants what?" he asked. All the sandwiches were wrapped so he planned to toss them up upon request.

Raven caught it easily, smiling a bit at Flynt's antics. He and Lakhri might be laid back, but they got the job done.

"Pickles and meat times two," Kade requested, deftly snagging them as they came his way. He was attempting to be polite about this, which was the only reason he did not ask for more.

"I made the pickle ones, I'm sure they'll taste the best," Flynt boasted, shooting Lakhri a shit-eating grin. He was teasing, of course. When he had first met Lakhri, the boy had zero culinary skills. His master had taught him all he knew about making food. It was a skill he was happy he had.

Lakhri had, in turn, learned all he knew about cooking from Eeth who was easily the best cook of them all. Eeth now accepted a sandwich with a very slight air of impatience about him, while Lakhri took four.

Having unwrapped her sandwich, Raven put an arm around Flynt. It had been a while since Raven had seen the boy. No, not a boy, not anymore. He was full grown now, she thought, noting the well-developed muscles in his upper arm and torso as she enveloped him in a one armed hug. Flynt had changed a lot in the last six years. For starters, the arm that had been burned beyond repair thanks to his early untrained ability with fire had since been removed and replaced with robotics. This had been done recently, as the healers had not been willing to perform the procedure until he'd stopped growing. His tall ectomorph frame had filled out a bit, but he would always be gangly-looking considering he now stood just shy of two meters tall.

Eeth finished his own pickles-and-meat sandwich and sat straight. Despite the fact that he did not say a word, he managed to project a strong sense of 'Hurry up already, everyone!'

"Eeth, we have four days to spend in this spaceship," Drex told the Zabrak in a low voice, leaning back in his chair. "There is no need to hurry. The mission briefing cannot possibly consume all our time."

"I know that," Eeth replied with dignity.

"Good," said Drex and smiled. Eeth was surprised to discover that he felt very slightly chastened. That was a feeling he had not known since his master had died. Well, he thought philosophically, maybe it will do me some good.

The exchange between Drex and Eeth made Raven grin. It wasn't often that she saw someone tell her master to 'chill out' in such a way. This might turn out to be an interesting mission!


	2. Chapter 2

The six Jedi finished eating lunch and continued to discuss the mission. Then, after cleaning up the wrappers, they went to explore the ship.

"Should be enough room since the goyts are not exactly huge," Kaden remarked, taking in the large cargo area.

Raven took in the space as well. "There's room for feed and food. Dealing with their waste might be an issue. We had best look for a planet that is not too far out of Barslaa."

"Yeah, I don't particularly want to be shovelling shyte for days," Flynt commented as he leapt onto a platform. This room had a lot of retractable ledges which were used for storing things off the ground.

"Let's do some freestyle sparring while the hangar is still empty," Lakhri proposed. "Eeth against the rest of us, just in order to offer him a mild challenge."

"That," said Eeth with unparalleled dignity, "is absurd. These days, Raven and you taken together can reliably beat me. Add Drex, Flynt, and Kaden, and this is going to be over in a few minutes at most."

"Aww, don't underestimate yourself," Lakhri retorted with a grin. "Always so modest."

"Since your former master is so intent on having a fair chance," Drex said mildly, "why don't you pair up with him, Lakhri, and the rest of us take you on? We can switch later. That way, we can all get to know each other better."

"Sounds good," Lakhri said. "I haven't sparred with you in ages, Eeth. Only against you."

Eeth gave a slight nod.

"Alright," he agreed. "Let us change into workout clothes and meet back here in five minutes."

These days Raven was really quite good. She had to be after having spent the last seven years with Eeth who, since the death of Bai Li last year, was now considered the most talented swordsman in the Temple.

"Sure thing."

"Bring it on," and…

"Yes, Master," replied Flynt, Kaden and Raven respectively.

Kaden was rubbing his hands together in anticipation as he preceded his master into their small room. As was typical of Drex, everything had been put in its place. His clothing hung on the rail provided, the chairs were moved to a more familiar placing and his data pad was charging on their desk. Kaden knew if he were to walk into their refresher that Drex's towel, toothbrush, paste and, unfortunately, his hairbrush, would all be in their place. He hated that brush. He'd had many a run-in with the business side of it. His master's silver-streaked hair was thick and curly, and his hairbrush was correspondingly broad and heavy. It hurt like a bastard whether applied to a bare or clothed ass.

Kade changed quickly, taking a moment to spin his saber in his hand before clipping it to his belt. Drex had allowed him to construct his weapon after returning from a successful mission to Tnangan-at-Val during which he had gained a lot of experience and, more importantly, maturity and discipline. He looked over at Drex who was pulling on his tunic and asked something that had been on the tip of his tongue since Eeth sent them to change: "Soresu or Ataru?"

Drex considered this. He had mostly restricted Kaden's training to the defensive form of Soresu since any form that was focussed on attacking tended to bring out the aggression in Kaden. However, Kaden had recently been allowed to use Ataru in freestyle sparring when suitable. He had received no formal training in it for three years now, though; and he had only had permission to use it in selected one-on-one situations. Drex had occasionally allowed Kaden to fight against others, using Soresu and sometimes Ataru, but he had avoided open sparring classes and similar situations that were hard to control.

"Do you feel confident you can control yourself when using Ataru under the circumstances, in a six-person fight with very strong opponents?" he asked. "If yes, you may try. But if I see it doesn't work for you, I'll revoke that permission and I expect you to follow that decision, instantly." If it did work out, this mission might actually be an opportunity for Kaden to develop his Ataru skills with Eeth or even Raven as a teacher. But that would remain to be seen.

Kaden wanted to blurt out that of course he could control himself, but the truth was, he never knew when, or if, he was going to lose his shit. Sure, those times had become few and far between, in the last six months especially so, but he'd sparred with Eeth before… Eeth was a powerful opponent, and Kaden remembered drawing off that and allowing the thrill of the fight to fuel his attacks. Fighting had always been a passion for him, all through crèche and even during the last few years despite being heavily restricted. "I can," he said quietly after a long pause, sticking his hands in his pockets and scuffing at the floor with his boot. He didn't want to be held back like a baby. "And I will do as you say," he hastened to add. Kaden rarely disobeyed simply to be defiant.

Meanwhile Raven changed into an old workout tunic. The material was almost threadbare but it was her favourite and so comfortable that she couldn't bear to part with it. She had a hair clip between her teeth and both hands were pulling back her long hair when Eeth met her at the door. "Tink, 'Aden ill ee okay?" she asked through her hair pin, and then spat it into her hand to pin back her fringe. "I remember he had issues with sparring and his aggressions," the teen clarified.

"Yes," said Eeth. "But I have great faith in Drex. He has been training Kaden for three years now, and he knows what he is doing. From the fact that he allowed him to build his own saber, I deduce that there must have been significant improvement. If there are any remaining issues, I trust Drex to handle them."

A few minutes later, Lakhri was making his way to the hangar, together with Flynt at a leisurely pace. He normally tended to run late although Eeth had cured him from actually ARRIVING late. This time, as a matter of fact, he was unusually early. He and Eeth had not seen much of each other lately due to the fact that they had spent most of their time on missions, and he realised that he had missed his former master's company. He got along well with Raven, too, and Raven well with Flynt; the times they spent together were quite enjoyable unless Raven and Flynt managed to get into trouble of some kind. But they had not done so in a long time. After all, they were practically adults now. On a more basic level, Lakhri enjoyed sparring with Eeth. Years ago, as master and padawan, they had developed a method to make efficient use of the immense difference in size between them. Lakhri genuinely liked the feeling of covering for Eeth, and having Eeth cover for him. They had not done this in years, he realised, and he was really looking forward to it.

"You're looking forward to this," Flynt stated, amused. By now the two had a well-developed bond and unless Lakhri was actively shielding, Flynt could pick up on his moods easily.

"Totally," Lakhri affirmed cheerfully. "C'mon, let's run through a joint kata." This was his favorite method of warming up. It combined activity, controlled movement, and an intense focus on the Force, as well as on their training bond. That said, he realised he would have to pay attention to his shields or Flynt would be so tuned in to him that he would make his life rather difficult during the match.

Eeth and Raven arrived a minute later. Eeth raised his eyebrows in surprise to see Lakhri already there, but did not comment. He simply nodded at Raven to get started on her warm-up, which she did. A short time later, Drex entered the makeshift gym, preceded by Kaden. Drex didn't need help navigating the ship, per se, but it was a new environment and Kaden instinctively took the lead for his blind master.

When everyone was ready, Eeth called them to the centre of the room and the fight started. Lakhri knew that this was going to be a real challenge. Eeth was, of course, a supremely good fighter, but Drex was extremely experienced and his defences were nearly impossible to penetrate; Raven was an excellent fighter; Flynt was not half bad either; and as for Kaden, Lakhri had no idea, but he was bound to be advanced enough to enhance the others' efforts.

Lakhri was surprised at the ease at which his and Eeth's moves still combined after all those years. They immediately backed up against each other, moving in circles to make the best of their respective sizes depending on who was facing them. Lakhri was determined to give his best, and to his slight surprise, he felt that Eeth was doing the same, as opposed to his usual laid-back style that he employed when sparring against a weaker opponent. Obviously, he was taking this seriously.

As far as Flynt was concerned, this was just another match. He wasn't a particularly competitive personality. That said, nor was he willing to stand down from a challenge. He eyed them critically, watching to see what they would do both with his eyes and through the Force. Raven, for her part, had focused on the others in her team. She was trying to link with them, Drex in particular, to gauge how she would be most effective here. While she did this, Kaden was sizing up Eeth. He wasn't one for waiting around, but neither was he about to run off half-cocked; he would be calculated about this. Besides, one of them had to move so it may as well be him. He knew there was little chance he'd actually land a hit on Eeth but, like the first shot in a game of smashball, someone had to start. He feigned left, then came at the man from above.

… And it was on.

Flynt vaulted over the fray and was now engaging Lakhri who looked to be watching Raven and Drex, both far superior fighters to himself.

Lakhri was not likely to be surprised by Flynt, nor Eeth by Kaden. They could easily fend off these attacks. Both of them knew that the greater danger came from Raven and Drex; Drex in particular because he had decades of experience and was extremely good at working with others. He had a way of being able to gauge his team's strengths and then playing to them.

Indeed, that was what Drex was doing. He was not in a hurry; he focussed on supplementing and backing the three others' attacks while finding out more about their skills. Unfortunately for him, Eeth knew what he was doing, and Lakhri understood it, too. The best way to make that difficult for him was to force the opposing four Jedi into the defensive. So they immediately launched into a combined attack sequence that was ferocious enough to split the four up and drove Drex backwards.

Very well, thought Drex while calmly and deftly blocking the attack. He started giving out orders, organising his team as best he could after what little he had seen of them so far. He had Flynt and Raven in the offensive and Drex and Kaden holding their backs. Doubtlessly this was not what Kaden had in mind, but it was what Drex thought would work best. Kaden was good at Soresu, after all, even if he preferred Ataru.

No, Kaden wasn't happy about being relegated to defence. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'he was good at Soresu', but that didn't mean he liked it. He was a strong, organic, aggressive fighter. Far stronger than Raven! Or so he thought. It should be him up front and the others backing up. He did not dare disobey, however, as he knew to do so would be to secure a fast end to the match. Thus, he took up the ordered position without challenge.

Raven did as instructed, quickly moving in to force Lakhri back and leaving Flynt to take on Eeth. Her movements were lightening-fast and her agility was exceptional for a Jedi. Both worked in her favour here.

"Harrrrr!" Flynt bellowed, the ruckus making Raven chuckle and garnering a frown from Kaden. He had been trying to make some noise in an effort to make himself scarier as Eeth attacked him. It didn't work on the Zabrak, but the theory behind it was sound. Quite literally.

Lakhri didn't think he had enjoyed himself so much in a long time. The fight was turning out to be a real challenge. He was usually able to win against Raven, but she was fast becoming as good as him; and now she had back-up. Drex just seemed to be everywhere in his calm, unhurried way, forcing Lakhri to run into an attack of Flynt's which, when he had dodged it, led him into Kaden who left him no other option but to expose himself to Raven's attack. But then Eeth was there, driving Raven off, leaving Lakhri to take a swipe at Flynt that nearly had the boy on his back, had it not been for Drex coming in. This was the most fast-paced, demanding fight he had had in a long time. It was all the more fun to discover how well he still worked with Eeth who was simply absolutely everywhere.

Lakhri was under no illusion that they could keep this up forever; it was only a matter of time until the speed of the fight, which took a higher toll on him and even on Eeth than on their four opponents, caused them to leave an opening. But it was still fun, and he had the distinct impression that Eeth was enjoying himself, too. So much so that he went in on Kaden and sent his saber flying; the look on the boy's face was priceless. Drex came to his padawan's rescue, which left Lakhri an opportunity to drive Flynt into the back wall of the hangar, only having to flip out of harm's way when Raven vaulted in on him in an attack sequence that nearly had him flat on his back.

The split-second it took Lakhri to react to Raven's attack was all she needed to grab Kaden's lightsaber. She thrust it into his hands, practically knocking the boy backwards in the process. "Move faster," she snapped, causing him to clench his jaw in irritation. Losing his saber had rattled Kaden. Hence, he was soon knocked down again, only this time, he retained his saber; he would die before that left his hands again this fight. The kid was annoyed but knew that if he wasn't able to get a handle on it, he would be pulled out, scolded and sent packing. He gritted his teeth, deciding that just one chance at getting Eeth back for disarming him would probably be overlooked. He channelled his frustration and directed an attack at Eeth that was so powerful that Flynt actually pulled back his defence a little lest Kaden's attack be uncontrolled. Thankfully for all involved, it wasn't.

The ferocity of Kaden's attack took Eeth by surprise. It was a good thing for him that Flynt had withdrawn; that gave him the space to move into a complex aerial counterattack sequence. Lakhri immediately realised what Eeth was doing; he disengaged from Raven and backed Eeth up by drawing Drex away.

Having moved so fast that he was practically a blur, Eeth reappeared behind Kaden and sent him stumbling. Flynt and Raven immediately covered for him, though, and the fight was on again.

Again, Kaden was peeved that his attack had not been effective. He swallowed it, though, forcing his frustration into the Force in a burst that would no doubt have been felt by anyone paying the slightest attention. Kade was a powerful kid, dangerously so, and he knew that he had to temper that side of himself and keep control if he were ever to become a Jedi knight.

Drex now started to see what they could do to win the upper hand. He began organising his team again, ordering Kaden to get Flynt's back when he went to separate Lakhri from Eeth, while he himself sent Raven at Eeth with an attack sequence that he could not counter but only dodge, sending him into Drex's block. A minute later, Eeth and Lakhri had lowered their sabers in surrender, smiling. Lakhri was gratified to see that even Eeth was showing signs of exertion.

"Yeah!" Flynt whooped as his master and grandmaster surrendered. He levitated his saber offside and held up two hands, one mechanical and one flesh, to his team mates for 'high fives' which was given by both Kaden and Raven. Drex took a moment, but made all three padawans smile when he followed suit, slapping the boy's mechanical palm.

"Great fight," Lakhri said cheerfully, noticing that even Eeth was smiling slightly at the padawans' antics. "Raven, how about we take Drex and go against the other three now?"

By the time this training session was through, Flynt was starfished on the floor, Kaden was standing stiffly trying to appear that he wasn't really tired despite his body language screaming otherwise, and Raven was pacing the floor. She had caught her breath but was walking it out all the same. "Good fight! We have to do that again." She glanced at Flynt. "The new arm taking some time to get used to?"

"Yeah," replied Flynt, still catching his breath. "My brain controls it, but sometimes it feels weird. Lakhri's been helping me." He looked at Eeth and held up his good arm. "It won't impede our mission. I'm not as awesome as I usually am fighting in a multiple person lightsaber duel, but I'm more than up for our task." His gaze rested on Drex, on whom it was probably lost.

Raven tutted. "'Course you are. You wouldn't have been on our list if there were any doubt."

"Indeed," said Eeth calmly. "You did well. Even if you had not, though, it is highly unlikely that we will have to fight the goyts with our lightsabers."

That mental picture had Flynt smiling, and Raven frowning.

When they made their way to their cabins in pairs in order to take a shower and get changed, Drex asked Kaden quietly: "How do you feel about the fight?"

"Fine," Kade replied, his short answer typical of the stoic boy.

"We all sensed a considerable amount of frustration from you," Drex said matter-of-factly. "What was that about?"

Kaden didn't want to answer that. Still, he knew that Drex wouldn't have asked if he didn't expect an answer. "I was frustrated," he admitted. "Being relegated to defense meant that I couldn't focus on offence… I could have done better had I not been relegated to Soresu for the last three years." The comment had come out before he'd thought about it. He fell silent, not wanting to dig himself deeper.

"You did very well at your offensive," Drex said mildly. "Eeth, however, is far superior to you, and so is Lakhri, for that matter. And that would be the case even if you had spent the past three years training Ataru, only in that case your defences would be a lot worse than they are now. Plus, I suspect the same would be true for your ability to keep your frustration in check. Which you did manage during the fight, despite some difficulty, and I am glad for that. That said, your command of Soresu is fairly good now, and I am not opposed to letting you take up Ataru again. Under supervision, and in addition to your usual training. Are you interested?"

That Drex deemed his efforts adequate gave the kid cause to smile just a bit. However, his brows rose into his hairline at his next comment. "Yes, I'm interested," he replied, unable to hide the fact that he'd been completely taken off guard by the offer, from his tone. "Do you mean now or, when we get back to the Temple?" he queried, not wanting to get his hopes up only to be told again that he had to wait.

"Well, we have some real experts in Ataru with us during this mission," replied Drex. "There is no reason not to make use of that fact. I will ask Eeth and Lakhri what they think; one of them might teach you, or possibly Raven who takes after Eeth where sparring skills are concerned. One thing needs to be clear, though: your school work comes first."

In contrast to Raven and Flynt, Kaden was still taking regular classes, and that meant he had to do school work on missions. Flynt was at an age where most of his teaching was of the project type and fairly practical, and Raven had, at age nineteen, stopped taking regular classes altogether, with Eeth completely in charge of advancing her training.

The prospect of having Eeth, or Force help him, Raven as a teacher had Kaden wince slightly. Eeth was uber strict, and Raven? Well, he had once had a crush on her and she had treated him like a little kid. He wasn't sure how that dynamic would work out now. But Lakhri? Yeah, the man was lightening-fast and seemed a lot more laid back than Eeth. Plus, Kade certainly didn't fancy the man. Lakhri would be the boy's choice. Still, he would take what he could get, thus he did not make his thoughts known.

"As if you would let me miss out on school work," he said instead. "Just for the record: it sucks that I'm the only one who has a full workload. Raven has none and Flynt is doing some project. It's not fair." It was unlike Kaden to whine about such things, but being singled out did make him feel particularly childish on this mission.

"You will probably thank me for this particular type of unfairness when, at age nineteen, you do not have to do school work any more either," Drex said calmly, but with a firmness to his voice that showed he was not altogether pleased. "Besides, I am sure that Eeth will find plenty of things to do for Raven who has already completed all her required classes. I am trying to make sure the same will be true for you when you are nineteen. Now take a shower."

While Kaden did that, Drex commed Eeth about Kaden's Ataru lessons.

"It would be best if Raven or I did this," Eeth said after a moment's thought. "Lakhri is busy teaching Flynt robotics because Flynt wants to take an advanced course after his return. I have no objection to teaching Kaden but it might be a good idea to give my padawan the chance to acquire some more teaching experience."

Drex nodded. Raven was at an age where it was common for senior padawans to give lessons and even teach classes of their own; entrusting her with teaching Kaden made sense.

"I am not entirely certain he will hold up, though," he said. "He mostly manages to control his aggression and frustrations these days, but I don't know what will happen when neither you nor I are present. That said, I don't think supervising these lessons will be a good idea either. That would make it hard for Raven to focus on teaching and would make Kaden feel like a toddler."

"We can give it a try and see if it works out," Eeth said. "If it does not, and you still want him to learn Ataru, I will be happy to step in."

Thus, when Kaden left the shower, Drex told him that his first Ataru lesson with Raven would take place after dinner, provided he had completed today's workload of lessons by then.

"You want me to give Kaden Ataru lessons…" Raven repeated Eeth's instructions. She dry-washed her face with a hand and barely refrained from adding: 'you must be out of your mind' but fortunately for her, she did leave that part out. "I know Lakhri is busy, but wouldn't you be a far more able teacher for such a volatile personality?" she questioned him, folding her arms.

"Oh, probably so," Eeth replied coolly, raising his eyebrows at her stance. "I want you to become an able teacher as well, though." He was certainly not going to give her more reassurance than that before she lost the attitude.

Raven unfolded her arms, her gaze dropping. "Of course I am an able teacher. I've taught before. Kaden has issues, though. Why else do you think the Force paired him with a master who has a million years experience?"

"In order to get his issues in hand, of course," Eeth replied with more patience than he felt. "Which Drex has done, quite successfully, for three years now. You might have noticed that Kaden did manage to keep his temper in check today, despite his frustration at being relegated to the defensive and his loss of his saber. You, on the other hand, will at some point have to learn to work with students who pose a challenge. If the challenge becomes to high, we can always switch."

Her mouth opened to retort, then closed, then opened only to close again. Humph! Well, it would seem he had her in a quandary. The task wasn't too hard, because saying as much would be admitting defeat, something Raven would never do, but nor did she want to teach Kaden! Her back straightened and her chin came up. "I can manage," she told him stiffly, completely aware that she didn't have a choice; if Eeth ordered it, she had to obey him. It was that simple.

"Good," said Eeth calmly. "We will start working on the mission files now. I want you to study all the details of the planets we might take the goyts to so that you can immediately start matching them with your observations when you arrive. After that, we will work on your Huttese. Your lesson with Kaden will be after dinner. Lakhri said he would cook something while Flynt works on his robot."

"Yes, Master," Raven replied. She was not happy about this but nor was there anything to be gained from voicing her opinion. She brought up the mission file and set about doing as he said.

Flynt, in the meanwhile, worked on his robot. To him this was personal… The boy had recently had his arm amputated (not an easy thing to endure for any being) and robotics attached. He wanted to know more. He knew that each robot was unique. For instance, the lighting on this very ship was simply applied mechatronics. He would master it if it took him a lifetime, which it probably would.

"Can I help?" Kaden asked, wandering into the kitchen and finding Lakhri cooking. Drex had sent him off to make himself useful.

"Sure," Lakhri said with a smile. "They packed us some fresh stuff so we can have decent food for a couple of days until we're down to starship food. Can you wash and toss the salad?"

Wordlessly, Kade took the bowl and began to do as asked. He was used to this sort of work and really did take pleasure from being of use.

The ship was relatively large and well-equipped and had a fairly big kitchen. This was mainly because nobody had any idea what kind of food they would need to take for the goyts and whether this might have to be cut up or sterilised or treated in some other way. For now, this made for a quite comfortable trip: their cabins were reasonably spacious, they had a large hangar at their disposal for workouts, a big kitchen and galley and lots of supplies. Force only knew how comfortable they would feel with hundreds of goyts on board!

"Did you get assigned a lot of school work for our trip?" Lakhri asked Kaden. "You probably did; teachers usually hate to think of you being idle. Let me know if you need help with anything. I'm good with most languages. I also have ample experience coaching padawans through maths classes. It wasn't exactly Raven's favourite subject." He flashed a grin at Kaden and handed him a bowl to put the salad into.

Kaden nodded at Lakhri's assumption regarding his school work; he had more than enough in his opinion. Then he sighed. He would have liked to take lessons from Lakhri, but his master had other plans. "Drex has instructed me to work on Ataru with Raven. I'm not sure how that will work out. Not that I have much choice in it…" He flung the salad around in the colander for a while making sure that all of the dirt and water was off. Then he added it to the bowl and tossed in the dressing.

"Raven is extremely proficient at Ataru," Lakhri said reasonably. "And she has already done some teaching and did quite well. I think you'll be fine. Or do you have any reason to think otherwise?"

Did he have reason to think otherwise? Yes! But he wasn't willing to admit that he felt somewhat belittled to be taking fighting instruction from a girl barely four years his senior. "No," he said through a sigh, and kept at his chore. Thankfully the man did not press this and soon they had prepared a wholesome dinner of salad, cooled grains with mixed vegetables, which Kaden had cut into cubes, and a few pieces of rehydrated meat. "Thanks," he told the man when they were done. Lakhri had taken time to teach him how to make the cooled grain with vegetable concoction and it had turned out delicious, something that everyone agreed on during dinner that evening.

Kaden and Lakhri were by far the biggest eaters. Flynt had gone through a couple of stages during the last few years where he had been the same. However, at age seventeen he was no longer having massive growth spurts. Force, he couldn't grow any more! As it was, the Temple healers suspected the boy's lineage was not entirely human, as they could find no abnormalities to explain his lofty height. He was eating using his left arm with mixed success, not that anyone at the table minded. They had advised him to do as much as he could to gain mastery over his robotic arm, that it would take time and practice to achieve the fine motor skills of a real arm. For Flynt this was still a huge improvement; his arm had been burned beyond healing as a child and as a result had been rendered almost useless. He could move it but his fingers had been burned to stubs and it was grossly deformed. Having it removed had been daunting, but ultimately had improved his life and his usefulness to the Order significantly. "Sorry," he said with a slight grin as a piece of cut tomato managed to slide off his fork before he could get it to his mouth.

Kaden ignored it, and Raven gave him a playful shove with her shoulder. "You gotta show me that later, I want to see you with your shirt off." Raven said as casually as if she were asking to see his latest hologame.

"It's mostly healed now. It was pretty gross there for a while." And it had been, not that this had bothered Flynt or Lakhri. Flynt had been fascinated which was what had spurred him on to learn more about robotics.

"Me too, I wouldn't mind seeing how they did that," Kaden added.

Flynt just shrugged. It didn't bother him and as long as none of the masters took issue with it, he would show them later.

After dinner, Drex helped Raven clear the dishes. "Thank you for teaching my padawan," he told her. "If there are any issues with Kaden, call me. Otherwise, I'm going to leave you to it."

"It's my pleasure," Raven replied. It wasn't, not really, but she wasn't about to say as much and offered a bow instead. She instantly felt a bit stupid; she was still not accustomed to the fact that Drex couldn't see her gestures. Drex inclined his head, however, which surprised the teen.

Kaden noticed her expression, but remained silent until they were walking towards the cargo bay where they were to have their lesson. "He can't see it, but if you bow to him, he'll sense you moving and more often than not he can sense the intent behind it. Like the high fiver he caught off Flynt yesterday, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," she said thoughtfully, then met Kade with a smile as they entered their makeshift gym. "Right, let's not waste any more time," she told him and clapped her hands.


	3. Chapter 3

Raven pulled a couple of skipping ropes from her bag and tossed one to Kaden, her intent clear. When he didn't begin immediately, she started herself and instructed for him to get moving.

The boy dragged a hand down his face. He didn't know why this felt humiliating to him. Raven was his superior yet taking orders from her felt strained! He just stood there.

Raven raised a brow and, without stopping in her own warm-up, she told him: "I've been instructed to teach you Ataru. You have two choices; obey me and we get through these lessons together and maybe you learn something, or disobey me and make it hard for both of us. I guarantee that the latter choice will not buy you any favours with your master. C'mon, let's get going, we need to warm up." She gestured towards the rope in his hands, her expression expectant.

Just when Kaden thought this could get no worse, it did. Luckily for him, though, his sense of self-preservation kicked in and he started skipping. He was quite certain Raven wouldn't go too hard on him, and if she did, it wouldn't be anything he couldn't handle; he was huge compared to her. That said, the humiliation of having to submit to such a thing was horrifying, as was the thought of what Drex would do or say to him if she sent for him to supervise their session.

Raven picked up on Kaden's hesitation as they warmed up, so when they finished, she told him" "Let's get a few things straight about this arrangement because I don't want to be explaining myself indefinitely. Be on time. I get precious little free time, really, and I don't want to waste it waiting around for you. Obey first, then ask questions. I really do want you to ask me questions or ask for help if you don't understand something. Be respectful. I will respect you and I expect the same in return. And finally, try to learn something. This is an opportunity for you to improve. Treat it as such and you will get far more out of it." It was a speech she gave before every class, yet today it felt awkward.

Thanks to their skipping, Kaden was more winded than Raven was. So, it took him a moment to pull himself together and reply without sounding strained. "Suits me," he eventually said, forbearing to add that it wasn't his preferred choice because Raven could probably tell that for herself.

Their warm-up routine was thorough and by the time the ten minutes allotted to the task were up, Kade had worked up a light sweat.

They spent the next half hour running through choreographed attack and block sequences so that Raven could get a better idea of the boy's skill level. She was also curious to see how he would respond to her way of teaching, which was very hands on; if he got something wrong, she physically moved his foot, hand or bumped him forward with her hip. It was the most effective way to explain subtle differences in movements and stance.

"I can tell you're frustrated, but you are not letting it take over. That's good," she praised, having batted aside one of his more ferocious, less controlled attacks. They had been doing freestyle sparring for the last ten minutes now and although he was a talented fighter and she had to work hard to get close to breaching his defenses, Kaden was no match for her offensive skill.

By the time they were done, Kaden was spent, both physically and mentally. Panting, he made to sit down, only to be told otherwise.

"Walk it out, we'll use this as our cooldown. Stow your saber and make arm circles." Raven led by example and began walking around the large cargo area, one arm circling, then the other. Once they had sufficiently stretched and cooled down, she asked how he thought that went.

"It was okay, I guess." Kaden replied. Truth was, he had been frustrated. He had not expected her to be that good. In fact, he had expected to trounce the girl and end up teaching her. As it was, he hadn't landed a single hit, and she had almost divested him of his lightsaber, twice! Not that he was willing to say as much.

"Gee, don't hold back on me here," she guffawed. "I am nineteen, you know. What'd you expect, a cake walk?"

"I dunno. I thought I'd do better is all," Kaden answered honestly.

Raven smiled at that and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good fighter, Kade, very talented and very strong. Learn to harness all of that and focus on the Force and you will become a formidable opponent. I think I can help." With that she shoved the ropes and her own towel back in her pack and led the way from the cargo bay.

She walked with him until he split off into his own room to shower. Given that Raven wasn't nearly as sweaty as Kaden had been, she didn't follow suit. Instead, she detoured into their kitchen, poured herself a large glass of water, sat down next to Eeth and peered at his data pad curiously.

Eeth was just discussing the political situation on Barslaa with Drex who had already listened to the information on the data pad and memorised most of it.

"Colonists are not likely to hinder us too much if we explain to them that we're removing the threat that the goyts pose to their fields," Drex was saying to Eeth as Raven sat down. "Hello, Raven. How did the lesson go?" he asked.

"Alright. I don't think Kade was happy about taking lessons from me. I'm sure that master or Lakhri would be a better choice for him," replied Raven.

"They might have been his preferred choices," Drex said calmly. "Like everybody else, though, Kaden will have to live with not always getting what he wants and making the best out of the situation."

Eeth nodded. "There is an important lesson for him to be learnt here," he said. "Of course I could have offered to take over the lessons. And of course he would have readily accepted me as his superior. With you, he finds it more difficult; and yet, in the interest of the work he will be doing in the future, it is imperative that he recognises when other Jedi are his superiors, in rank or in skill, regardless of size or age."

"True," said Drex. "He can learn a lot from you. If he doesn't, it's his own fault. Since it's him who absolutely wants to learn Ataru, it would be in his own interest to make this work."

"I said as much, although I'm not entirely sure this will go smoothly. I'd prefer to be able to deal with it myself rather than need to have one of you step in, though. So far the threat of calling in reinforcements seemed to be enough motivation." Raven smiled a bit at that and had to admit she didn't blame the kid. Drex could be wholly imposing if he had a mind to be, something the teen knew from personal experience.

It was at that moment that Flynt wandered into the kitchen. "Don't you lot ever get sick of staring at data pads?" he asked. Of course the comment was not meant for Drex who was 'listening' to them, but he wasn't about to get that technical.

"How goes the robotics?" Raven asked him, watching as the tall teen pulled a bag of dehydrated crisps from the cupboard.

"It goes… Lakhri's helping me with this section, it's tricky. His payment was me fetching us a snack." He grinned and popped the bag, offering them around. "How'd it go with Kaden?"

Raven shrugged. "Okay for a start," she said, declining the offer of crisps. "I might come and watch what you're doing," she said and looked across at Eeth for permission. "Please?"

Eeth nodded his consent.

Lakhri was waiting in a work room, holding a screwdriver out to Flynt.

"Hi," he said to Raven. "Feel free to stay, but please keep a safe distance. Parts have been known to fly around." He grinned at Flynt. "It was a bit corroded," he told him. "I treated the joints with oil. You should now be able to remove it."

"Everybody's a smart ass," Flynt quipped, the memory of a coiling spring taking flight and almost wiping them both out coming to mind. Despite the occasional bit of airborne shrapnel, Flynt was actually quite good at this and seemed to know what he was doing. It was entertaining enough. Besides, Raven wanted to spend some time with Lakhri. His presence rarely failed to put a smile on her face even if she did have to keep her distance.

In the meanwhile, Drex went looking for Kaden who was just emerging from the shower. "How was your lesson?" he asked.

"Fine," Kaden replied, his response sounding muffled as he was drying his hair at the same time. He didn't want to tell his master that they'd had problems to begin with. Besides, he doubted Raven would have said anything. He tossed the towel aside in lieu of finding his sleep pants. "Do you think we could ask Eeth or Lakhri to do this instead, though? It's… I dunno, awkward learning from Raven. I'm not sure I'll get the full benefit from it." Of course Raven had already told him that how much he got out of this would depend on him, and not to waste it, but if he could somehow talk them into exchanging teachers it would make these lessons so much easier on him.

"And why," said Drex evenly, "would there be any reason for you not to get the full benefit from it? Raven excels at Ataru, and she has quite a bit of teaching experience. If this feels awkward to you, then you will simply need to learn to deal with that feeling. You wanted to learn Ataru; I offered you a chance to do so. Either you take that chance or you leave it and stick with Soresu. Those are your options."

Kaden didn't want to admit that he found it difficult to submit to Raven's authority, so he went for the easier emotion to deal with: anger. "Those are crap options. Why is it this or nothing? Why can't I have a choice in teachers?"

"You do not take that attitude with me," Drex said, causing the boy to straighten up. "Will you drop it by yourself or do you need a reminder of who's in charge here?" He asked this quite matter-of-factly. Drex was rarely annoyed, and he certainly was not now, but he was usually also very clear about which lines he did not want Kaden to cross, and this was one of them.

"No, master," Kaden said quickly because he knew that to preface what he was about to say with anything else would probably end painfully. "I know who is in charge, everyone is in charge of me. That's the problem! I don't know why it is so important that I have Raven as my teacher, other than to make something I would ordinarily love doing awkward." Of course, it was still risky stating all of that, but the kid was frustrated.

"You are the one who is making this awkward," said Drex firmly, "not the choice of teacher. Your pride is getting in your way. And you urgently need to overcome that, not only because it is a trait that is not encouraged by the Jedi, but also because it will cause serious problems for your future work if it continues. On missions, you will have to recognise and accept when others are superior to you in skill, regardless of their age and size. Preferably without complaining about how awkward this feels. Since this is obviously a habit you still need to acquire, consider yourself lucky that I am giving you an opportunity to do so."

Kaden's pride was a constant issue with him, and Drex knew he had to cure him of it, else he would not be able to advance and would cause trouble on top.

It was a lecture familiar to the boy. He scuffed at the floor with a bare foot. His pride was somewhat of an issue with him and he knew it. He also knew what Drex was telling him was right, and he trusted the man implicitly. Still, this was not something he found easy to swallow. "Have it your way, then," he snapped, his tone bordering on acceptable, and threw himself onto his bunk to sulk. There was no point arguing with Drex. The man had made up his mind and there would be no changing it, he knew.

"You want me to have it my way?" Drex asked mildly. "Alright. We will cancel the Ataru, lessons, then, and you go on focussing on Soresu."

He turned and made for the door. Kaden might think that his behaviour was acceptable, but Drex happened to disagree, and if the boy did not come around fast, there were not going to be any further Ataru lessons in the near future.

Kaden was losing his temper. He got to his feet and pelted his pillow at the wall. Hard! "Is that what you want, for me never to learn anything but Soresu? Is that what your way would be?" he shouted at the man's retreating back.

Drex stopped, paused for a moment, and turned. He knew Kaden quite well by now. His temper was taking over, which was a constant issue with the boy. He had been working on teaching him ways to conquer his temper: Counting to ten, calming down, and then meditating; or asking for help if this seemed impossible. He certainly knew better than to throw things around and shout at his master. And Drex was intending to make that clear to him; but only after having given him a last chance to get his temper under control.

"You know better than that Kaden," he said quietly, the expression on his face suggesting that Kaden would be well-advised to pull himself together fast.

Kade recognised the expression, but he was pissed. "Well, is it?" he pressed, folding his arms across a bare chest. "Is that what you want, that I spend the rest of my apprenticeship learning nothing but how to block blaster bolts?" He made an effort to lower his voice this time but he was still clearly annoyed.

Soresu was, of course, about a lot more than blocking blaster bolts. So far, Drex had fared quite well with it. More to the point, Kaden had had a chance to stop his disrespectful behaviour, but he had failed to take it. The mere fact that he had stopped throwing pillows and shouting was simply not enough. Drex walked over to the desk, pulled out a chair and sat down. "Pants down and over my lap," he said calmly. "I will not answer your question before you have lost your attitude. And since you seem to be unable to lose it on your own, I will help you along." In his experience, a spanking was the most efficient way to snap Kaden out of his tantrums, much as the boy disliked this method.

Kaden wanted to throw the mother of all fits, to jump up and down and scream that this wasn't fair, to pound his fists into the wall! His eye twitched and he began to deep breathe, something he should have started doing thirty seconds ago. Wordlessly, and still seething, Kaden stomped to the man's side, dropped his light cotton sleep pants to his knees in one agitated movement and bent over. He wasn't going to give Drex the satisfaction of hearing fear or remorse in his voice so he just lay there, brooding. At 1.75m in height Kaden was not impressively tall. He was, however, impressively built. His upper body was thick and muscular. It was somewhat of a vanity thing for the kid at times as he found his body had begun to build adult level muscle far earlier than his peers, most of whom still appeared wiry and lithe in comparison.

Drex calmly pushed Kaden forward into the position that guaranteed maximum exposure of his bottom, which he knew his padawan hated. Then he raised his arm high and gave him two swats that were as hard as they could get. "When I tell you to lose the attitude, I mean it," he informed Kaden and dealt out another two swats that rang off the walls. "I am happy to discuss this with you, calmly and respectfully. But not with you shouting, throwing pillows and making accusations," he continued. The next two swats targeted the tops of Kaden's thighs, garnering a grunt of protest from his charge. "And you really know better than to give in to your temper like that," he added. After which he stopped the lecturing and focussed on dealing out a sound spanking. He was really starting to feel the strain, but he suppressed that feeling for Kaden's sake, who urgently needed to learn a lesson. Maybe I should get myself a lightweight paddle for such occasions, he mused while swatting Kaden's bottom over and over again, without holding back.

Fuck! The boy hissed, gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes shut against the pain because if that first round was anything to go by, he wasn't going to get through this in stoic, brooding silence as he had planned. The lecture didn't help his plight. He had stopped counting at some point, possibly when the burn across his ass and thighs was demanding his full and undivided attention. Of course, like most Jedi, Kaden could use the Force to block pain to some extent. It wasn't something the fifteen-year-old was overly proficient in yet, but he could still do it if he chose to. Unfortunately, doing so during a punishment was not an option for an apprentice. Thus, he was forced to experience every smack to its full potential.

Drex had had a lot of reservations about taking Kaden as a padawan, not because of Kaden's issues, but because of his own age. He had been sixty-eight at the time and still in very good physical shape, but he had not been sure how long this would last. Right now, for the first time, he realised that dealing out a thorough spanking was a lot harder on him than it used to be. Of course, he could have made Kaden get the hairbrush, but he had reserved that for serious cases of disobedience, often related to the unauthorised use of a lightsaber. Drex did not want this to change. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and carried on, focussing all of his attention on the lower part of Kaden's bottom and the tops of his thighs.

Drex's discomfort was completely overlooked by Kaden as the boy was now entirely focussed on his own pain, which was fast approaching unbearable. He fisted the rug in both hands, drummed his toes on the floor but inevitably a pained cry escaped. His feelings of guilt and remorse over his behaviour coupled with the pain that was exploding across his nether region proved too much for Kaden. "Alright! I apologise, I apologise!" he stammered through a sniffle.

"Good," Drex said, sounding unfazed. "Now let me make sure that the lesson sticks for a while." With this, he dealt out a dozen further swats, all on the crease where Kaden's bottom met his thighs, and he made them as hard as he could. He knew from personal experience that this could be quite excruciating.

When he was done, he continued to hold Kaden down with his left. He knew that Kaden hated this position and found it extremely humiliating, but then, this was all about the need to conquer his pride.

The boy was crying softly. His ass, undercurve and thighs were on fire! This was not as bad as an encounter with the hairbrush, or Force help him, the tawse Drex kept at the temple, but it had been enough to bring Kaden to tears.

Drex waited for a few moments until Kaden seemed to be able to take in what he said; then he started talking. "Let me answer your question, padawan," he said calmly. "Personally, I don't think that it is imperative for you to learn anything but Soresu at this point; it won't bring you to knighthood faster, nor will it improve your ability to fulfil your duty. However, I have no issue with taking your wishes into account as long as I feel that this doesn't jeopardise the considerable progress you have made in conquering your temper. Taking your wishes into account does not mean that everything has to be done your way, though. Eeth, Lakhri and I agreed that it would be best if Raven taught you, for good reason. I expect you to trust our judgment and make the most of this chance you're given. If you don't, there will be no Ataru lessons. And no amount of sulking or throwing fits of temper is going to change that. It is merely going to make sitting very uncomfortable for you. Do you understand?" He released his hold on Kaden, allowing him to get up. Drex was not as cruel as to expect Kaden to have an actual conversation with him while lying over his lap.

When Drex was done with him, the boy was sniffling quietly. His ass, undercurve and thighs were on fire! This was not as bad as an encounter with the hairbrush or, Force help him, the tawse Drex kept at the Temple, but it had been sufficient to bring Kaden to tears. The lecture afterwards elicited honest remorse; he felt bad for having lost his temper. Okay, so he hadn't completely lost his shit like he had in the past. The air had not prickled with the power of his Dark Side, but he had still lost it enough to deserve what he got, and he knew that.

He found his feet, somewhat stiffly, and gently rubbed both hands up and down his backside. He hissed at the sting while taking a moment to collect himself. He could feel the heat coming off his ass without even touching it. "Yes, master," the boy replied subduedly, swiping a sleeve across his face. He wasn't crying any longer but his eyes were stinging and red-rimmed.

Drex was sympathetic, he really was. He rose and pulled Kaden into a hug. "Padawan, I know it's not easy, being fifteen years old and having everyone making decisions for you," he said gently. "But you have set yourself a goal that is very, very hard to reach, even under the best of circumstances, and you need guidance to do so. Sometimes, you will simply have to find it within yourself to trust me, even when I don't do things the way you'd prefer me to do them. And you have really made a lot of progress with that. Try to keep your larger goal in mind whenever you feel hard done-by." Drex himself definitely was feeling hard done-by; his palm was aching and his upper arm, too. But he was not letting it on.

The hug was accepted gratefully, as despite his efforts to appear unfazed, it had hurt the boy, a lot. As had Drex's lecture. He trusted the man, really he did, but he had such a hard time with his temper that sometimes it blinded him to the fact that Drex was here to help him, not make things harder than they had to be. "I get the big picture thing, really. It's just frustrating." He pulled away from the comfort of his master's arms and raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I will do as you say, though." Because he was not suicidal. He bent down and gingerly reached for his sleep pants. They had coiled around his left ankle so he was forced to detangle them for a moment. Sliding them up his roasted ass was not exactly pleasant either. Still, he did his best to hide his discomfort.

"Good," said Drex. "You'll be doing yourself a big favor if you do so. Try to consider these lessons a learning experience. If you do, you might end up learning more than Ataru. Such as conquering your pride." That was a constant issue with Kaden, and Drex knew that Kaden knew it.

He did, but conquering it was no easy feat. Well, it was what it was; Drex had his reasons and it was not his place to dispute them. Still, Drex's lecture elicited honest remorse; Kade felt bad for having lost his temper. He stepped back to stand by his bunk. It was still too early for bed. He looked to Drex, hoping that he hadn't lost his hour of free time.

"You may have an hour of free time now," said Drex. "After that, we need to turn in. The ship should be stocked with some hologames and other entertainment in case you want to check it out. I think Raven, Flynt and Lakhri are still busy with Flynt's robotics project."

"Thanks," said Kaden, hiding his relief at hearing his free time was still going to be free time. He was disinclined to join the others given he'd just had his ass handed to him. Okay so it wasn't an extravaganza, but still it had hurt the boy enough so that others would undoubtedly notice. He decided to seek out the holodeck and spent that hour lying on his belly while playing battleship builder. This sort of game wasn't his preference, yet neither was it unwelcome. This one took some thought which was preferable to jumping around fighting things given how his ass felt. He frowned at his thoughts. Sure, he knew that all missions were meant to teach him something, to test his skills. Well, it would appear that this one was testing him before it had even really started...


	4. Chapter 4

After an uneventful evening and an equally uneventful night, they had another session of mission preparation after breakfast. When that was done, Drex set Kaden to working on his lessons, Flynt returned to his project and Raven went to the cockpit to check on the ship.

Drex discretely followed her. "My padawan is, to put it bluntly, none too thrilled at having to take lessons with you," he told Raven, sitting in the co-pilot's chair next to her. "I think he does not quite take you seriously as a teacher and feels his male pride threatened. I expect him to overcome these notions, and he knows it. Should he have difficulties doing so, however, I think it would be a good idea if you asserted your authority."

"He's not happy, or comfortable for that matter, with me teaching him," Raven replied. She leant back into the pilot's chair. Raven had planned to speak to Eeth about this later on and ask for his opinion on how best to proceed. However, she guessed that Drex would know his padawan, and how to handle him, better than anyone so she added: "I'm not really sure what to do, and I'm not sure my master will give me the answer. He wants me to learn," she admitted, and huffed.

"Unfortunately, leniency does not work too well with Kaden where sparring is concerned," Drex said drily. "He used to be deterred by the threat of exchanging his sparring lessons against exercises for his strength and stamina, but he has so much improved in those fields that this does not work quite as well as it used to anymore, although he's still not overly fond of such things. Ultimately, a sound spanking gets the best results with Kaden. And it will really have to be one that leaves an impression. Do you feel able to deal one out?"

Raven flicked a few switches on the dash absent-mindedly as she contemplated Drex's question. Could she? She fiddled with her padawan's braid, a gesture that was probably lost on the blind master but signified that the teen felt a little uncomfortable. "I guess so. I mostly teach five to six year olds so most of the corporal punishment I have given has been rather light. Although, as you know, my master is not exactly a lenient man; I've been on the receiving end of what I believe you're referring to more often than I care to admit. I am hoping it doesn't come to that, though, because in an attempt to help him relax, I said that I wouldn't 'kick his ass' so to speak. I'm not sure if reneging on that would be helpful; he still seems to resent the idea."

"Of course he resents the idea," Drex said. "That's the whole point. He's none too thrilled with me when I spank him either. In your case, he'd probably be embarrassed as well but he'll simply have to learn to deal with that, or avoid earning punishment. I think you'd be doing yourself a favour if you went back on what you said, at least if his behaviour warrants it. It might not come to that. Then again, it's perfectly possible that he'll keep testing his boundaries. And if he does, you need to show him his limits or these lessons will become a major ordeal."

Raven's nose wrinkled. The notion of having to mete out any sort of punishment, let alone corporal punishment, to one of her peers was bad enough. Yet, neither did she want these lessons to become an ordeal! Firstly, Eeth would not be pleased, and secondly, she would not be pleased! It was with that in mind that she seriously contemplated the likelihood of actually having to mete out physical punishment to Kaden. She suppressed a cringe. "If I were to do so, would you be adding to it?" she asked.

"Not necessarily," replied Drex. "I'd prefer it if you made your point clear on your own. If you don't, he might never get around to respecting you. At least, this goes for things related to disobedience, disrespect, slacking off, being late and so on. And I will tell him in no uncertain terms that you have full authority to deal with this as you see fit, including physical discipline. If he really loses control of his temper and gives in to his aggressions, I would rather deal with it myself. That shouldn't be an issue; I'll be sure to sense it if that happens." He smiled at Raven. "I'm sorry for imposing this on you," he said. "But for one thing, Kaden wanted Ataru lessons and I believe you capable of teaching him. And for another thing, he needs to learn respecting his betters even when they are not several decades older than him. Otherwise he will be a pain in the ass to take on missions, quite frankly."

The latter caused a smile. "Yes, I imagine he would be. I'll do what I can to help. Who knows, maybe he will surprise us. It's no imposition, I will do my duty to Kaden." And Raven meant to do just that. Eeth wanted her to learn from this and she was going to try.

Half an hour later, Raven was in their bedroom waiting on Eeth to finish what he was doing and join her. She stood when he entered; clearly, there was something on her mind.

"Master? I've been thinking about Kaden and these lessons. You see, Drex and I had a conversation. I didn't think anything of it at the time but I'm starting to feel a little nervous… " She reiterated the conversation with Drex and scrunched up her face. "I told him I'd be okay with this, but, Force. The worst I've ever had to do is belt that kid on our mission to Manchana, and the knight in charge was still forced to add to it." The teen paced. "Why isn't there a manual on this stuff!?"

"There is none, as you well know," Eeth said calmly. "You need to find your own way of doing things. If Drex tells you that lenience does not work for Kaden, though, you should heed that advice. If you are unsure what a not-so-lenient punishment should be like, I recommend you imagine what would have been your fate in a comparable situation. In any case, it might be a good idea to use an implement, seeing that Kaden is a fifteen-year-old boy and quite sturdy."

"Ugh!" The image of that had her plonking on to her bunk. "I don't want to." It was whiny and, although half in jest, there was also half of it that was serious. "How do I end up in situations like these anyway?" It wasn't really a question. Raven knew she had to learn but this was a hard lesson for her, too. She started playing with her hair. "What would you use?" she asked, sounding slightly desperate.

"Padawan, you know that depends on what he did," Eeth said drily. "And I am sure you are aware that my hand would hurt him more than yours and that I tend to carry a paddle, too. You will have to find your own answers."

Raven huffed. "That is not very helpful," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Padawan, you know how a spanking works," Eeth said pointedly. "You have received a lot of them, after all."

Raven opened her mouth to state that she resented that comment, but closed it again… There wasn't much point if it happened to be true.

"Tell him to drop his pants, bend over and make sure he feels sufficiently bad about his punishment to avoid repeating his misbehaviour," Eeth continued. "Your belt will probably ensure that. If you prefer a different implement, take precautions and bring one. Try to gauge his reaction. I think it is unlikely that he will put on crocodile tears; Kaden strikes me more as the type who will try to put on a tough façade. It might be a good idea to break through that so that he will accept you as the one in charge. What more do you want to know? A list that says 'Mild disrespect – 10 swats with a cooking spoon'?"

"Yes, that is exactly the sort of list I want!" she shot back. "You may have noticed that I'm finding this difficult. Maybe I'm not ready to deal with peer-level padawans yet." Raven knew how that comment was likely to go over, but she was frustrated, too.

"If you want that kind of list, write it yourself," Eeth snapped. "You might find it difficult, but that is no reason to give up on it. When I tell you that you can do it, then you had better believe me. There is nothing that inherently prevents you from giving Kaden what he deserves, should the need arise, other than the fact that it makes you feel uncomfortable. And when has that ever saved you from having to do something?"

Raven could argue that but she had been with Eeth long enough now to know when she ought to desist: now was that time. "Never," she replied sullenly and stopped playing with her padawan's braid. "I wish I had your confidence…"

"If you think you are lacking confidence," Eeth said a little more gently, "just think for a moment that I, for one, have full confidence in your ability to do this. When the situation required it, you have never had issues with asserting your authority before. You will be able to react appropriately, I am absolutely sure of that."

"Yes, Master," she replied. It did help that Eeth had confidence in her, but she was still unenthused. Eeth must have sensed as much and knew what would be best for her now. He told her to go find Flynt and have a workout together. The two got along famously, they always had, and it would work to blow off some of the anxiety she felt. It was an order Raven was happy to obey and five minutes later, with Lakhri's permission, she had dragged Flynt to the cargo bay.

"That bad?" the teen said upon seeing his Jedi aunt's face. He tried to parry another of her blows and was pushed back into the wall. "Yeesh! Settle Petal. Dodgy robot arm, remember?" He flexed and unflexed grey metal fingers for emphasis.

"Force! I'm sorry, Flynt. You attack, I will defend only. I'm just," she sighed. "Just not used to training older padawans, let alone older padawans who resent the fact that I'm teaching them. So, yes, the whole Kaden thing is heavy on my mind."

"I can see that. Kaden can be intimidating. You want me to rough him up for you?" he offered, pleased that this got a smile from the girl.

"No, apparently that's my job…"

"Oh!" Flynt said, realisation dawning. "But, can't you just leave it to Drex?"

"No. He needs to learn to respect and obey me as his superior. And apparently I need the experience…"

Flynt wasn't sure what to say to that, so, he did his best to give her a good workout and take her mind off it.

In the meanwhile, after he had left the cockpit, Drex went to check on Kaden and explained some Umbaran grammar to him. Leaving him to do a few drills on the matter, he made his way to the galley and started rummaging in the kitchen drawer. He took out a few cooking spoons and egg flips and ran his fingers over them, not quite satisfied with what he found. Most of them were flimsy and made of metal; their edges might hurt Kaden, or they would bend, or both.

At this point, Lakhri entered, intending to start preparing lunch. He took in what Drex was doing and understanding dawned.

"What has Kaden done to earn your displeasure?" he inquired, coming over to the kitchen counter.

Drex shrugged. "Nothing right now," he replied. "I wasn't pleased with him last night, though, and when I called him to task, I realised that making my displeasure clear to him is more taxing on me than it used to be. Spanking him with my hand might not be a good option any longer. Since I'm not Eeth and don't usually carry paddles around, I thought I'd look for something else, short of my hairbrush which is what I really only use in serious cases. None of these are any good, though." He dropped the items back into the drawer.

"Hmm," said Lakhri. "You can always ask Eeth for his paddle, you know? The one he carries in his belt. It's about as bad as a handspanking by someone with large, hard hands and strong arms, so it would be what you want."

Drex smiled. "Yes, but Eeth would hardly carry it in his belt if he felt he did not need it," he pointed out.

Lakhri shrugged. "He might feel that you need it more, though," he said. "It isn't as if he uses it much, these days, and he can always leave the same impression with his hands if he really wants to. Besides, he has spare ones at the Temple, I'm afraid to say. I was quite horrified to find that out. I'll ask him." Without waiting for a response, he marched off to find Eeth.

Drex made to stop him, but reconsidered. Having a paddle might actually be helpful.

And indeed, Lakhri came back after a short while, with Eeth in tow.

"Here you are," said Eeth matter-of-factly, handing Drex his small paddle. "I do not need it often these days, and I always have alternative options. If you feel that it might be helpful to you, you are very welcome to it."

"Thank you," said Drex. He felt that the offer was genuine and saw no point in refusing. "It will be very helpful to me indeed. I told you that I was going to get old when I took Kaden as a padawan, and I think I'm at the point where I'm losing the strength that would be needed to handle a fifteen-year-old without an implement."

"I'm glad to be of service," Eeth said solemnly. And that was that. Drex did not quite feel like stowing the paddle in his belt, though; that did not seem to be his style. He brought it to their cabin, hidden beneath his robes, and stowed it in his cupboard, shielding it so that Kaden could not see.

Indeed, Kaden paid his master no mind when he entered. He was wholly focussed on finishing the last of his Umbaran. A few minutes later he was done and he clicked the pad shut. He, too, wasn't looking forward to his lesson with Raven, but unlike her, he wasn't willing to openly admit as much. "Can I go hang out with the others for a while?" he asked, unsure what else Drex would have for him to do.

"Yes, but only for twenty minutes," Drex said. "I would like you to finish one more lesson before lunch. In the afternoon, we will have a workout; your lesson with Raven will be after dinner again."

"Twenty minutes," he reiterated, getting to his feet and stretching. A moment later, he was off out the door in search of the others.

That evening after dinner Raven again met the boy for their lesson. It was tense, to say the least. She needed to rebuke him quite sharply several times and at one stage had him meditate in order to get a handle on his frustration. He had been barely riding the cusp of respectful behaviour during the entire lesson, something that Raven would not tolerate from her younger students. But for some reason, she felt compelled to give Kaden more and more chances.

Drex was monitoring him, she knew. Nevertheless Raven wanted to handle this, wanted to prove Eeth right, that she could do this. That evening during meditation, she didn't try to hide her anxiety as she let it go into the Force. "I'm sorry, Master," she told him when they had finished. "I am trying, he's just, I don't know –" She threw her hands up in the air. "– testing me or something. I'm sure it's not that simple, Kaden is not a bad person. We get along fine outside our lesson…"

"Oh, I rather think it is that simple," replied Eeth. "He is not a bad kid at all, but like many fifteen-year-olds, and especially boys, he is too prideful for his own good. He has trouble respecting your authority. That is why he is testing you. And he will most likely continue doing so until you put a stop to it. The sooner you do that, the easier your lessons with him will become. But that is, of course, up to you."

Raven sighed for what seemed like the billionth time this trip. "I know," she told him. In the past, Raven's issues with space travel had mostly been centered on boredom, too much academic work or, Force help her, uppity royals, but it was not the case this time. This time, it was not her own issue, or an outsider, and it was her in charge, not Eeth. She curled up on her bunk and again pushed her anxiety into the Force. Tomorrow would be their second-last day; they were on the home stretch.

Most likely, depending on their time budget, Raven would have to continue giving these lessons to some extent until the end of their mission or even after that, but since they had no way of knowing what their time budget would actually be like, Drex and Eeth had not made a decision on that yet. In any case, Eeth hoped that Raven would eventually pull herself together and show Kaden his limits.

Drex, for his part, had sensed some of what went on in Kaden during his lesson with Raven and decided not to do anything about it, for now. Raven would gain nothing from having Drex assert his authority on her behalf; if anything, it would cause Kaden to respect her even less. Kaden was aware, after all, that Raven had full authority to punish him as she saw fit since Drex had told him that in no uncertain terms. Drex decided to watch this for another day. If there was no improvement then, nor did Raven step in decisively, he was going to talk to both padawans.

Unfortunately, Raven was labouring under the misconception that their lessons would cease once they left the ship and at most, perhaps, resume on the return trip. She didn't know that Eeth and Drex had meant for them to continue, although in hindsight it probably made sense. Still, she was blissfully ignorant for the moment. That evening, the teen found herself relegated to their quarters working on Huttese. She was not at all happy with the way Kaden's lesson had gone this evening and was honestly glad to have something to occupy her mind with.

Meanwhile, Flynt was sitting at the table with Lakhri. They were going over some advanced robotics theory. "I can't believe it's this complicated," the teen complained, flipping from screen to screen trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong and why his CGI robot was not moving. "It may as well be a toaster oven. Bah!" was added as he scrapped his work and made to start over. "Toast?" he suggested, grinning.

Lakhri laughed. "Always," he said. Flipping a few pages along on Flynt's screen, he pointed at a section.

"Check this bit," he said. When Flynt had read it, Lakhri discussed it with him until Flynt suddenly saw where he had gone wrong, whereupon they went back to recalibrating some of the robot's circuits.

"'Course I knew that, I was just testing you. Gotta keep you on your toes, you know?" Flynt said jovially. He was grateful that he had a master whose skill set was not restricted to a singular vertical, but widely ranged; Lakhri seemed to know enough of just about everything, except for Force aided healing; yeah, he was rubbish at that.

"How did the lesson go?" Drex asked Kaden in the meanwhile.

Kaden had been sitting quietly, his attention focused on his work. He shrugged when Drex asked, but immediately he felt a pang of guilt at the hard time he'd given Raven this evening. He liked her well enough. He just didn't like her in this role. "Okay, I guess," he answered, thinking it the safest reply. It wasn't an outright lie, but neither was it entirely truthful. Kaden knew that his master would not be pleased if he found out that he was giving her trouble, and so far it would appear that the girl had not complained about his behaviour. Well, good.

Drex gave him a skeptical look. "Why do I get the feeling that you're still resenting this arrangement?" he inquired.

"Because I _am_ still resenting it. I don't like it."

"Padawan, you will need to settle down to it and accept it. Is that what you're doing?"

"Yes," Kaden countered, but his tone was hollow at best.

"Yes, well, you might try accepting it with better grace than you have so far," Drex said calmly. "I advise you against giving me reason to step in. You would not like the outcome."

Kaden heeded that threat, but remained silent. He knew Drex was right; he would not like it if the man had to step in. In fact, it would be decidedly unpleasant.

Eeth, in the meanwhile, was having a much similar talk with Raven. Having returned from an urgent comm talk with the Temple, he sat down on his bunk and asked Raven: "How did your lesson with Kaden go?"

"Not so good," she answered, pushing her data pad aside and standing. "He's questioning my every decision, being a bit of a smart ass and is generally disagreeable," she told him honestly. It did not cross her mind to lie or try to make out that it was going better than it was. Eeth could always tell. "I correct his stance and he tells me I'm nitpicking. I ask him to warm up with me and he tries to do his own thing. I have to force him every step of the way." She gave him a pouty look that he probably had not seen in a while. "It's tiresome."

"And you do about it – what, exactly?" asked Eeth. "Has it occurred to you to wonder for how long Drex would have tolerated that kind of behaviour? Or me?"

"Yes, master, it has," she answered, glancing at her hands briefly before looking up once again to meet his gaze. "You'd have kicked my ass if this was me," she admitted and started to pace again. "I ordered him to do meditations before our sessions, hoping that would help, but it didn't seem to. I plan to replace sections of our lesson with muscle building exercises if he continues to defy me. I did make our last cool-down one that I knew he would find dull purposefully on account of his poor behaviour." She huffed. "The more consequence I add, the more he seems to resent me. If I give him the hiding I know you would have given me had I acted in such a way, what's to say it doesn't get worse?" Raven didn't think it would. In fact, she thought the kid more than deserved it. Still, it was proving hard for her.

"If Drex thinks this is what works for Kaden, I think you would do well to trust Drex," replied Eeth. "I am quite sure that it will only continue to get worse unless you find the courage to do what you know perfectly well needs to be done. Kaden is probably entirely aware that he deserves it. And if you refuse to punish him appropriately, he will continue pushing you. Moreover, if it goes on this way, I think it likely that Drex will step in, and that will only undermine your authority even more."

"I know," Raven agreed quietly, more to herself than Eeth. "Will you meditate with me, please?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Eeth had never denied her this if it were in his power to offer it, after all, and right now Raven could really use some the comfort and reassurance she got from Eeth while meditating.

* * *

The following morning Raven woke well before the rest of her teammates and went to what passed as their common room. It was dark, as was climatically correct for this hour at their destination, so she slumped into the soft couch and pulled her legs into her chest. She sat there for a long while before the sound of crinkling wrapping coming from the kitchen drew her attention. The teen smiled, not moving from her spot. "Master put them all in the freezer, you'll have to wait until tonight," she directed towards the sound of gently hinged cupboards and a carefully prised-open cooler.

"Gah! Is nothing sacred!" came Flynt's hushed response. He padded into the dark common room to sit by her side. "Why are you up? I'm guessing you aren't raiding the kitchen for extra sweets."

"I can't sleep," she told him.

"No? How come?"

"Not sure, could be a lot of things. I haven't been in charge to this extent on a mission before, and… Kaden. He's problematic."

Flynt nodded at the former but smirked at the latter. "Hey, do you remember that first time I stayed with you and Eeth?"

The girl nodded, curling into his side a bit.

"Remember what a pain in the ass I was? How badly I needed to learn that although Lakhri was my master, Eeth was still running the show when he wasn't around? Similar thing with Kaden. He needs boundaries and you're not setting them for him. His failure as a student is also your failure as a teacher."

Raven blanched at this. It was uncharacteristically serious for the usually carefree Flynt and had taken her by surprise. She made to pull away, but Flynt held her close.

"Try to think of Kaden as just another student and not a friend, that might help."

Raven stilled and let out a long breath. "I know you're right, you are ALL right. It's just harder to do in practice than it is in theory. Imagine how you'd feel if suddenly you found yourself in my situation."

"Me?" Flynt laughed at that. "You're kidding, right? Believe me, tearing up Kaden's ass would be the last of my issues. Although I might be tempted to set him on fire instead if he were giving me as hard a time as he's giving you. It would be a close call there." He rubbed at scratchy stubble on his chin as if deeply reflecting this, but the smile on his face said it all…

Kaden emerged later that morning, scrubbing a hand over his face and, like Flynt had barely hours before, making to raid their kitchen. "Hey," he said, catching sight of Flynt and Raven asleep on the couch. "Better get up and wash. Drex is up and I heard Eeth rustling around his room."

Eeth was knocking on Lakhri's door at that moment.

Lakhri yawned and stretched. "Alright, alright, I'm getting up," he called. "Thank you so very much for letting me sleep in!" Rolling out of his bed, he noticed that Flynt wasn't there. He must have made an early start to the day. Probably he was hungry; he was much like Lakhri in that respect.

"Good morning," said Eeth, immaculately dressed as always, when a sleep-tousled Lakhri opened the door. "I was going to start on breakfast. And hunt for my padawan on the way. I notice that yours is not there either."

Lakhri shrugged. "He isn't far," he said. "He was probably looking for food. I'll be with you in ten."

Eeth nodded and made his way to the galley where he found all three padawans. "Good morning," he said and added, addressing Flynt and Raven: "Since when are we having breakfast in our sleepwear?"

"Morning," Kaden replied to Eeth and inclined his head in way of greeting. He walked past Raven and Flynt then whispered: "Told you," before making his way into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

"C'mon Grandmaster, let us live a little?" Flynt tried, offering the man a slight bow.

"Morning, Master," Raven greeted him, bowing formally. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at Flynt's efforts, though. "Since when has that line ever worked on my master?" she said in a stage whisper.

"First time for everything," Flynt replied from behind his hand.

Eeth frowned."Off to the shower with you," he decreed. "Get dressed." There might be nothing much on today's agenda but that did not mean he was going to allow anyone to slack off!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hi all! We hope that you've enjoyed Goyts so far. This is quite a long story to tell but, as always, we're enjoying rehashing it and sharing it with you guys. Thank you to all who reviewed and offered feedback, and welcome to any new faces. This chapter focuses quite heavily on Kaden's issues, a trend that will continue throughout this story. Our teams are about to enter the first of two new worlds, both of which will provide their own trials, adventures, joys and of course, mischief. Enjoy.

* * *

The day passed by as uneventfully as those before. There was nothing more to prepare for the mission; thus, all padawans spent their time on lessons, projects and workouts. Drex was currently "torturing" Kaden with the details of a Soresu move that he knew the boy was none too happy with. In his opinion, given Kaden's lack of enthusiasm for Soresu, the boy would do well to make a lot more out of the opportunity to learn Ataru that he had been given. Drex was just hoping Raven would finally get around to asserting her authority, or he might have to step in after all.

Raven had never been good at space travel. She was bored. She glanced up from the work Eeth had set her to see what he was doing. "Want to go join Drex and Kaden? They might like to spar with us, or we could join in their lesson," she suggested. This would serve a dual purpose for Raven. Firstly, she planned to slack off a bit, very uncharacteristic of her when it came to her physical training, but having Eeth reprimand her might just work to make Kaden feel like she wasn't given special treatment either. Far, far from it, in fact. It would be risky… Raven wasn't aware that Eeth had handed his paddle over to Drex, thus she still thought it possible that pulling this stunt on her master might very well end up in a swat or two for her effort. And secondly, it would provide a welcome change of pace.

Eeth strongly suspected that Raven was trying to get out of her work, and he did not appreciate that. "Only if you have finished writing your assessment of the taxation bill," he said evenly. "Have you?"

The teen barely refrained from groaning. The taxation bill had been one of the more horrifying duties this trip, but she had completed it all the same. "Yes, Master. Here..." Raven summoned her data pad and handed it to him. It wasn't her best effort, but, it was a taxation assessment!

Eeth hardly thought it likely that his padawan had done a great job in such a short time, and his perusal of her essay confirmed his suspicion. "You know this is not the standard of work that I expect from you and know you to be capable of when you make an effort," he said calmly and handed it back to her. "We can have a workout when you have completed this to my satisfaction. And I think we had better leave Kaden out of the equation for now. He is confused enough about your role versus his as it is."

Raven slumped at hearing this news. She found the topic incredibly boring and was not looking forward to doing it again. Her shoulders slumped a little more at hearing that they would not be involving Kaden; her idea at helping ease the tension between them flying out the waste hatch. "Please?" she tried. Upon seeing the look on his face, she turned, went back to the desk and began working without further comment.

Eeth kept his promise and had a workout with Raven before lunch. He was not opposed to working out with Drex and Kaden, as such; but he did think that the way Raven behaved, she made it far too easy for Kaden to continue considering her a fellow padawan, rather than a teacher. Anything that reinforced that misconception was bound to exacerbate her problems at this point.

Lakhri and Flynt joined them in their workout after a while, though, so it was not merely between Eeth and Raven. Eeth hoped that was going to help take Raven's mind off things.

After lunch, the whole group spent some time watching Flynt demonstrate what his robot could do and how he had achieved it, which was quite fun (even though Eeth would rather have termed it "educational").

Kaden happened to think the robot Flynt had created was remarkable, not that he stated as much. He wasn't overly talkative by nature, and the recent upheaval with Raven had caused him to withdraw a little.

"Whoa, Flynt that's awesome!" Raven exclaimed.

"I know, right! Now I just have to program it to complete chores I don't want to do and I'll be home and hosed," the teen stated.

"Wait, start it on taxation law and send it to my quarters, STAT!" Raven interjected.

Lakhri laughed. "I thought we've been through the 'great idea' of letting droids do your work for you," he said. "Eeth would be ever so thrilled."

"Indeed," said Eeth drily.

Drex grinned. Turning towards Raven, he asked: "Are you free now? If you could teach Kaden now, he could have the evening free for a change."

Eeth nodded. "The same goes for you, padawan," he said. "If you do it now, you will have some free time after dinner." After all, he thought, there was no point for either of the two padawans in running away from this. They were going to have to do it sooner or later anyway.

"No more book work? Of any sort?" Raven wagered, reserving her answer. Not that she believed she had a choice; still, she was attempting to milk it for all it was worth.

"What has that got to do with it?" asked Eeth, eyebrows raised. "I am not going to start bargaining, Padawan. I told you as it is: If you do the lesson now, you will have the time after dinner to yourself."

"If I were you," Lakhri said a little absent-mindedly while checking one of the circuits in the robot's arm, "I would take him up on that offer. There are more taxation bills in the making than that one, you know."

"Unfortunately, yes," supplied Drex. "Kaden and I have been working with one of the committees lately. I think it was the most boring work we have done so far."

"Hey, whose side are you on here anyway?" Raven said, shooting her Jedi brother a mock indignant expression. "Fancy mentioning the prospect of extra work while master is in the room. Honestly, you've lost your marbles." Raven was joking, well, mostly. Besides, when she glanced at Kaden to see how he felt about this change of routine, his pained expression had prompted her to attempt lightening the mood. "Alright then. Let's do this. Go get changed and I'll meet you there in ten minutes," she told Kaden, eliciting a groan from the boy.

"Do I have to?" Kaden sent Drex across their bond, because he wasn't rude enough to ask that aloud. Besides, he didn't actually want to hurt or insult Raven, he just didn't want to do this.

Drex was distinctly unimpressed with his padawan's attitude. It was not constructive, and it was also quite impolite of Kaden to display his lack of enthusiasm so openly in front of Raven and everyone else. He conveyed as much to Kaden through their bond; and he planned to make his displeasure even clearer later when they were on their own. Right now, he contented himself with telling his padawan through their bond: "You go now, and in good grace, or this lesson will be the least of your worries."

Raven watched Kaden's expression morph from that of pained sufferance, to surprise, then sheepish before he left the room without a word. Her instructions had not been unreasonable, after all. She frowned briefly. Then she schooled her expression and inclined her head towards Drex in silent thanks for whatever it was he had done to get the boy moving. "Maybe we can all play sim swords tonight? I know master is dying to play this again. He totally loves it!" Raven told the group. She was, of course, giving Eeth a hard time, and the grin on her face as she left to change into her workout gear said as much.

Twenty-five minutes later…

"You are not focused. Your grip is incorrect, your stance is off and you're becoming uncontrolled. C'mon, Kade, start over," Raven coached. She knew this was hard, and he had the basic technique down, but he had yet to perfect it to her standards. Of course, Raven knew there was probably more at play here than simply disliking lessons with her. She could appreciate better than most how frustrating three days stuck in a spaceship could be, especially so as a junior padawan lumped with a mountain of class work. She also knew how Eeth had tended to deal with her when she had let that frustration affect her duty…

"I am focused! I'm sick of doing this same shit over and over. I showed you I could do this yesterday, there is no need to rehash it. I'm here to learn new stuff, not stuff I learned in crèche." Kaden said petulantly, his arms folding across a broad chest.

Raven met him with a withering expression, but she did not speak. This was a tactic Eeth used on her often. However, she wasn't certain if just a 'look' from her was going to work on Kaden. It did not. There was a pregnant pause in which the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense… if an upgrade in the awkwardness of this whole shebang were at all possible. "Firstly, your efforts at this exercise yesterday left a lot to be desired. Secondly, I don't care how good you think you are, this is not something you learned in crèche, it is a high level Ataru sequence and one which you need to perfect in order to advance. Practice is the only way to achieve that. Thirdly," she continued, sounding a lot like Eeth, "you are here to learn, not to question my each and every instruction as you have done so far. If I say you need to work on this then that is exactly what you need to do."

"It's a waste of time, that's what it is." Kaden replied flatly. He knew that he was digging himself in a hole here, but his pride was smarting. Really smarting!

"Fine. If it is your time that bothers you so much, we'll put it to better use. Let's refocus on the physical fundamentals. Push-ups, let's go." Raven told him, her tone calm; she was not angry but neither was she pleased with him. Kaden was really starting to get on her nerves as opposed to just making her task difficult. "Now!" she barked when he did not move.

Kaden was seething. This was humiliating, absolutely humiliating! He dropped to the floor and started. Right! He could play this game, too, and better than Raven. Push-ups were not going to pose much of a problem for him in the short term, but he knew from experience that if they went on long enough, he would eventually start suffering. He was counting on outlasting her, though, because there was only so much of this she could force him to do, and he doubted she would spend the rest of their lesson on this to prove a point, as Drex might have.

* * *

Drex had sensed a lot of Kaden's rising frustration. He was alone in the galley with Eeth at this point since their trip required some manual navigation and Lakhri had made use of the opportunity to let Flynt do the piloting under his supervision.

"Your padawan is asserting herself somehow and my padawan does not like it at all," Drex told Eeth while Kaden was busy doing push-ups.

"Good," Eeth replied. "He is not supposed to. His behaviour has been quite disgraceful."

* * *

Had Raven been privy to Eeth's thoughts at that moment, she would have agreed. For now, she contented herself with teaching Kaden a lesson. She truly was tired of coddling him; friend or not, she had a job to do and he was making that near impossible. While Kaden toughed it out, Raven took a moment to release her own frustrations into the Force. She knew he was testing her and where this was likely to end up if it wasn't soon curtailed. So, she had him continue until his speed had dropped significantly and his arms were trembling under the strain. Only then did she beckon him to stand. His anger and resentment were almost palpable and barely controlled. "I am not going to continue this lesson until you have your anger under control. Let's meditate." She placed a comradely hand on his shoulder and began to gently guide him towards the bench where their bags were stowed. "I'll help you, okay." She was trying here.

"I don't need your help," Kaden retorted, shrugging her off. "You are picking on me! These lessons aren't really to teach me Ataru. They're just some bullshit farce you and Drex came up with to somehow teach me a lesson in humility. Well I don't appreciate it. If studying Ataru means putting up with this, then fuck it, I QUIT!" By the time Kaden had finished his rant, he was yelling, was right up in the girl's face and glaring down at her. He turned on his heel and strode for the door.

"Now wait just a minute! We're not done here until I say we are," she told him in a steely voice that she herself had not known she possessed until that very moment.

Kaden paused for a moment, but only for a moment, and then he continued storming out.

"Kaden! I am in charge here, not you! Unless you want to dig yourself even deeper, I advise you to do as I say," Raven spoke firmly, reaching out with the Force and closing the door, effectively blocking his exit.

Of course, Kaden could tear said door clean off its hinges and hurl it across the room if he let himself go. He turned and met her with a truly menacing glare.

* * *

"Unfortunately," said Drex drily, "Kaden's working himself into quite some temper. It might get too much for Raven to handle."

"Let her try at least," said Eeth. "Your padawan is not the only one who needs to learn."

"Oh, I know," replied Drex. "But if his anger threatens to destroy our ship or something, I will have to intervene after all."

* * *

"Seriously! Calm. Down." Raven coached, sending a wave of calm across the Force so strong that had Kaden been a simple animal he would have probably fallen asleep. Fortunately for them both, what worked on most of the animal kingdom did not hold true for the humanoid animal; they were cognitively advanced, comparatively speaking, thus it took far more skill to sway their minds.

Kaden noticed her attempt to soothe him. It worked on some level, of course; all Jedi could do this to some extent, but that she had felt it necessary just made him feel worse. He didn't actually want to lose his shit here but his pride was making that hard. He stood there staring at her for a long time, taking deep breaths and beginning an internal count. Onnnne, twoooo, thrreeee…

"Good," Raven encouraged. She turned towards the closed hatch, half expecting the rest of their team to come rushing through, but they did not. Apparently, they were letting this play out, and at this point, that was fine with her. She turned on Kaden and met him with a neutral expression. "Meditate. I am going to help you and I don't care if you want it or not," she instructed and guided him back to the bench where she rolled out a couple of mats.

So be it. If Raven wanted to play master here and force him into meditating, she was going to get what she asked for. Kaden knelt opposite her and dropped his shields. Fully. Then, he proceeded to flood her with a torrent of angst, frustration and anger that he usually tapered, even with Drex. She had it coming; it wasn't her place to instruct him in this! He was too powerful for her, and she was going to learn that the hard way.

Raven recoiled at the onslaught. She had not felt anything even remotely similar since being confronted by initiate Rayan during her first month as an apprentice, and even then, it was nothing like this. Her shields slammed up reflexively. This was not something she had ever done before. Still, she had a duty to Kaden, and so she tried to emulate Eeth's actions. She managed, but only just! Unlike Kaden, Raven didn't have an issue with her pride. It was now abundantly clear to her that she ought to have sought out Drex rather than attempting to offer assistance she was not at all qualified to give.

* * *

Drex was monitoring Kaden. He had been very close to intervening but to his surprise, Kaden seemed to calm down somehow and … meditate?

"Your padawan is helping him release his emotions into the Force," Drex told Eeth. Then he flinched. "And he's releasing all his negative emotions into the Force at once," he added. "That's quite some task your apprentice has burdened herself with."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Indeed," he agreed. "Well, she started it; she will have to finish it somehow or ask for help."

Drex nodded absent-mindedly. He was mainly focussing on what he sensed from Kaden, trying to make sure to shield Raven from the worst of the onslaught as discretely as he could because if he did not, what Kaden was doing could do actual damage to her. Force knew that it would have been hard for him to handle, and he had several decades of experience over Raven and shared a training bond with him! Drex suppressed the urge to storm the training room and turn Kaden over his knee right there and then for that bit of aggression. He did not, mostly because that would hardly have helped Raven's authority as a teacher. However, he was less than happy with Kaden for acting this way and he was going to make that quite clear to the boy, once the lesson was over.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Kaden opened his eyes. He wasn't entirely oblivious to the angst he had caused Raven; he had been angry and had not exactly restrained himself and in the heat of the moment he'd thought it warranted. The truth was that now he had time to get himself under control, he was feeling bad about how he had acted. There was just no way Raven was going to keep this latest mess to herself, not this time. He dropped his gaze as he knew that it would not matter if she chose to rat him out or not, Drex would have sensed him drop his shields a mile off. Fortunately for him, he had been far too angry to sense Drex intervene because if he had, the kid would be fretting over a whole lot more right now. "Look, I'll ask Drex to cancel the classes. It would be best for us both," he offered offhand, but was unable to hide the wave of guilt over what had just gone down as his shields were still partially open.

Raven was still a bit rattled, but she was Eeth's apprentice. Thus, her mind was back on the task quickly. "I don't think so. I'm not permitted to quit simply because I can't succeed easily. I'm afraid you are going to have to learn to get on with me because I will not stop teaching you until one of the masters order me to."

This took Kaden by surprise. He had expected Raven to jump at the opportunity to be rid of him, not to knock it back. He ran a hand down his face but remained silent.

Raven noticed his surprise and decided to capitalise on it. "I don't think I need to tell you that your behaviour these past three lessons started at barely acceptable and has escalated into a joke. Today you have crossed the line. So, here's what is going to happen. You are going to," she paused and glanced around the room looking for something suitable. Her gaze locked on a crate that was just the right height; yes, that would have to do. "March yourself over to that crate, drop your trousers and whatever else you got on under there and bend over. After I've made my displeasure clear, we are going to continue where we left off, and so help me, Kaden, if your behaviour does not improve drastically, I will have no problem beating your ass as a precursor to each lesson." The truth was she really WOULD have a problem doing that! But he didn't need to know it, nor did he need to see or feel how difficult this was for her. She was shielding her own angst over this from him. It was the least she could do given how this news was probably going to be received.

Holy fuck, holy, holy fuck! This was just. Not. Happening. Kaden blinked once, but continued to stare at her as if the girl had suddenly sprouted horns. "You can't. You said you wouldn't. This isn't fair." It sounded pathetic even to him! But this was not going to go down. It wasn't.

"I did. That was before you started acting like a brat! I'm in charge here, and you need to obey me. It's not like I'm asking you for a lot here." Her tone softened slightly as she attempted to level with him. "Look, do you think I like having to fight you every lesson? I'm trying to do my duty, too, and you are doing your utmost to make that hard on me, so don't talk to me about fair. C'mon, get to it. You have thirty seconds to get over there. Anytime after that, I'm going to start adding to this, and believe me, you do not want to go there." She didn't want to go there either, but again, he didn't have to know that. She removed her saber and utilities, setting them aside, and then she pulled her belt free. It was not nearly as thick or wide as Eeth's, Drex's or even Kaden's, for that matter, but she planned to make up for that.

What followed was quite possibly the most humiliating event of Kaden's life to date, or so it felt. Raven gave him no quarter. In fact, it felt like she had stripped the skin clean off his ass. He had not expected her to lay into him like that. Subsequently, Kaden found himself sniffling despite having done his very best to tough this out. Unfortunately, he wasn't without pain receptors and there was only so much he could do without drawing on the Force.

* * *

The emotions Drex sensed from his padawan changed quite drastically. He was now in significant pain. "Raven finally got around to disciplining him, it seems," Drex informed Eeth serenely.

"That is what I have been telling her to do the whole time," Eeth replied. "He has been getting out of hand."

"So he has," said Drex.

They leaned back in their chairs and waited for the lesson to finish.

* * *

Raven, for her part, was feeling wretched for having to do this. She was also feeling angry that Kade had forced her into doing it. She turned her back to give him some privacy as he got to his feet and stumbled to right his clothes. "We both have jobs to do, Kaden, please stop making me fight you to do mine. I don't want to do that ever again. I'm sure you agree." It was rhetorical so there was no surprise when Kaden failed to give her any answer.

The look on Kaden's face when he turned was unmistakably pained, but for once it wasn't simply because he was being forced to endure these lessons with Raven; his ass hurt like a motherfucker. He glanced over at the girl who was at this moment standing with her back to him, rethreading her belt. How on Hoth she had made that hurt so badly he did not know.

Raven gave him enough time to collect himself. Then she turned and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Come on. No need to drag it out, unless you have questions. I'll answer them, of course, but that won't get you out of the rest of this lesson, nor will it shorten it." She pointed to the spot in front of her and unclipped her saber. They still had half an hour to go and she wanted to work on landings before ending with a round of sparring.

Kaden winced. He could actually feel the welts through his pants! Yep, he wasn't going to be sitting on that any time soon. "How do you expect me to continue working now?" he asked. Sure, if this had been Drex, he'd have not even tried that angle, but this wasn't Drex.

Raven snorted. She couldn't blame him for trying it on, though. She had tried it herself once or twice, after all. "It's not my fault that you earned punishment, and neither is it going to get you out of finishing the lesson. If you want to work in comfort, don't earn punishment," she told him, sounding much like her master.

It was the sort of answer Kaden would have expected from any of his teachers, and now it dawned on him: Raven WAS actually one of his teachers. Sure, he had known that before, in theory, but he hadn't thought of the girl as a real teacher. She wasn't, not really, as she was his friend, a peer. It was only occurring to him now that despite all of this, she was, in fact, in a position of authority, not just in this room but on this mission also. Kaden nodded once and wordlessly moved to stand where bade.

The rest of the lesson went smoothly. Well, as smoothly as could be expected, considering. Naturally, Kaden's style was stiff due to the pain that must be raging across his ass. "Good job. You did that well," Raven told him when they stopped sparring to catch their breath. "Had you pushed that opening, I would have been forced to back up, giving you the upper hand and possibly a point in the process." She went to the bench where their bags were and pulled out two towels, tossing one to Kaden. Her body did not really sweat much. The same was not true for Kaden's; the boy was drenched. It did crossed her mind to offer healing. Like Eeth, Raven was quite good at Force-aided healing and could offer much more than the average field Jedi. Should she, though? Would Eeth? Hmm, he probably would but not until the evening, she mused and decided to leave that decision to Drex.

Kade caught the towel and swiped it across his face and the back of his neck. The sweat was stinging his ass and it was all he could do to keep from scratching at it constantly. When they were ready to leave, he put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from exiting. "Are you going to tell the others about this?" By 'others' he mainly meant Flynt and Lakhri as he was quite certain that Drex and Eeth would have sensed what was going on, given that Eeth was Raven's master and Drex was his.

Thankfully, Raven caught on to his meaning and shook her head. "No. What happens in these sessions is between the two of us and our masters. I hope you realise that I can't rightly keep what goes on in here from my master, nor can you from yours. It goes without saying that I expect you to give a full and honest account of what goes on during our lessons, not just for your own benefit, but for mine also." She smiled and started to guide him towards the door. "You're not the only one learning here and if I screw something up, my master needs to know about it, too."

"Surely Eeth doesn't… Not still. You're nineteen."

"If only that line worked on him," she chortled, sounding much like Lakhri. "Thankfully, I rarely give him reason these days. Although sometimes I go through stages where I just can't seem to win a trick."

At that moment, they wandered into the galley where Eeth and Drex were sitting. Kaden lowered his gaze, clearly ashamed, and made for the cooler; his gait was obviously stiff.

Raven looked to Eeth, her expression neutral, but he would sense that she needed to talk to him, or perhaps even all of them; she wasn't sure if Drex would want details from her or not. It was all a bit awkward.

Drex waited until Kaden had taken a drink from the cooler and then said: "Please join me in our room, Padawan."

He beckoned Kaden out of the galley ahead of him.

Wordlessly, Kaden moved to obey. He knew he was in for a world-class ear-bashing, at the very least. He just hoped that the state of his ass would be taken into consideration as he might just die if the man decided to add to it.

* * *

Eeth waited until they had left and then said to Raven: "I take it you have finally called Kaden to task for his abysmal behaviour."

Raven slumped onto a stool next to him and braced her chin in her hands. "I did. I hope Drex doesn't give him any more. I was not exactly lenient. He's going to have welts for several hours at the very least. I offered no healing. I'm not sure if that was too harsh or not." The latter wasn't phrased as a question, but she had meant it to be one.

"I doubt it," said Eeth. "Unless you were beating him out of spite, which I doubt, you had every right to deal out a punishment that he would notice."

"He noticed," she replied, sounding slightly relieved that she hadn't done him any harm by not offering healing. "Also…" She lowered her gaze and started playing with the table cloth. "I almost bit off more than I could chew when I ordered him to meditate with me. I didn't realise Kaden was that powerful. Force help us if he ever turns to the Dark Side, I'd actually fear for the Order. I should have come and got you or Drex to help, that was a mistake," the teen admitted. She was still not fully recovered from the shock, but had no one to blame but herself.

Eeth nodded. "So you did learn from this," he remarked. "Drex did ask you to leave things to him that involve Kaden's temper. I can understand why you would have thought that calling in Drex might have given the wrong impression, though. And I think Drex understood it, too. He was monitoring you closely, from what I saw, but he refrained from butting in."

Raven looked up at him for the first time since slumping into the chair by his side. "I'm glad he didn't. It would make things harder," she agreed. "I won't do that again," she reconfirmed, and she meant it too. Raven knew her limitations and she wasn't ready for that level of Force work yet, not nearly. It was now abundantly clear to her why the Force had chosen a master of Drex's caliber; no inexperienced Jedi would handle Kaden, that much was certain.

Eeth nodded. "I am definitely glad you finally showed an appropriate reaction to Kaden's behaviour," he said. "Considering how much he has been pushing you, I seriously doubt that you were too harsh. I am sure Drex will let you know if you were, but I hardly consider it likely. Did the lesson go well after that?"

"As well as could be expected; the state of his backside was no doubt making that hard on him. I didn't think it was wise to offer reprieves, though. You wouldn't have if it were me." In fact, Eeth wouldn't have let her get past the first ten minutes of that very first lesson, had she been acting that way. "I'll talk to Drex later. I hope he's not pissed at me for overstepping where Kaden's temper is concerned." Well, she'd just have to cross that bridge when she came to it.

"I do not think he will be," Eeth said. "But that remains to be seen. I, for one, am not going to blame you for any of your decisions. I told you time and again that you needed to assert your authority, and you did so. Meditating with Kaden was an error in judgment, but I trust you learned from it."

Eeth was strict, but he also tried hard to be fair. He had entrusted his padawan with a large amount of responsibility, and he did not think it would be fair to now jump at her for how she had decided to handle it when she had clearly done her best. He was not sure that Drex was going to be as understanding about Kaden's behaviour, though. In his opinion, the boy had only himself to blame.


	6. Chapter 6

While Raven and Eeth talked, Drex closed the door of their cabin behind Kaden and leaned against it, folding his arms across his chest. "Tell me what happened during your lesson," he said. This was quite clearly an order, not a request.

While Raven found reassurance in Eeth's words, Kaden was positively squirming from Drex's, both from the pain that still raged across his ass and the tone in which Drex had couched that question. Relieved that he hadn't been ordered to sit down, the boy attempted to hide a bit of his guilt; he had handled this very badly, something Drex had pointed out several times during the past few days and warned him to improve upon. He had not; in fact, he had gotten a good deal worse. "She beat me up," he stated flatly. While it was technically true, the spirit of that accusation was grossly misleading and he knew that.

"Uhuh," Drex said, clearly unimpressed. "Try that again."

Kaden frowned, but he couldn't deny that this hadn't been the smartest way to begin this conversation. "She punished me, and not lightly. I have welts."

"Yes, I surmised as much," said Drex evenly. "That was not an adequate answer to my question, though. I asked you what happened in your lesson. I'm sure Raven didn't spend an hour and a half punishing you."

"You could have fooled me," Kade muttered, still not happy about the state of his ass.

"You are doing an admirable job at exacerbating your problems," Drex said evenly. "Do you want me to add some to whatever Raven did to you or will you finally start telling me what happened?"

This got Kaden's attention. He absolutely did not want Drex to add to this! He folded his arms and started talking because he really didn't want to make this any worse despite how he felt about his lessons with Raven. "She was having me run through the same drill over and over and it was getting on my nerves. I started to lose interest and make mistakes which she corrected. That got on my nerves too because I was only making mistakes because I was bored with it!"

"I'm sure you know my position on wanting to quit a workout just because you're too bored to pay attention to detail," Drex said evenly. "I don't let you get away with it, and Raven is not supposed to, either."

Kaden did, but he didn't respond to this, Instead he tried to gloss it over by continuing. "I didn't want to lose my temper, so I told her that I quit! But she wouldn't let me leave." He looked up at this point and met sightless eyes. "She wanted me to meditate with her. I was reluctant for obvious reasons. It's not her place. You told her to leave my issues to you."

Drex sighed. "Very well," he said. "So she wanted you to meditate. It might not have been the best of ideas on her part, but it was neither unreasonable nor something that she wasn't entitled to ask. What happened then?"

Kaden begged to differ, but he didn't say as much because he knew his next confession was not going to go over well. "I did as she asked." he said. Then, upon seeing Drex's expression, he elaborated. "I let her have it, more so than I would have even with you." Kaden held up his hands in a placating gesture that was visually lost but ultimately sensed. "I know. It wasn't very Jedi-like of me. It's not like I don't regret doing that to her. I was angry and I was letting it control me," he admitted, and wanted to move this on fast so started talking again. He told Drex all of what Raven had said after that, how she had lectured and how he had responded. "Then, she belted me," he concluded. He hoped that by ending with that it would be clear to Drex that he had paid the price already, because he had!

"You should have expected that," replied Drex neutrally. "I told you she had authority to do this, and you definitely gave her reason to. You know that neither I nor Eeth would have stood for your lackluster approach to these lessons for nearly as long as Raven did. And I assume the same is true for Lakhri. Why you expected to get away with your behaviour, even after having been warned about it, is a mystery to me."

Kaden didn't know how to respond to that. It wasn't like he was trying to get away with his behaviour for the sake of it. His issue was his pride and it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. So, and despite his guilt, he remained silent and stared at the carpet; it was preferable to watching the expression on Drex's face.

Of course, whether or not Kaden wanted to talk about his pride was the least of Drex's worries. That said, he had more pressing issues to address right then.

"Be that as it may," he said, "Raven apparently called you to task for your poor behaviour in her lessons sufficiently. This is between her and you. I'm not going to punish you a second time for it, nor am I going to talk about it any longer, at least not now. There are two issues that Raven has not addressed, however, and I'm quite unhappy with both. The first and less serious one is the way in which you indulged and displayed your attitude about these lessons. Raven has been sacrificing her time and effort in order to teach you, and all you have rewarded her with were groans and procrastination. You did not even have any qualms about doing this openly, in front of her master, Lakhri, and Flynt. That was rude, and I'm definitely not raising you to be rude to others, especially not those who give their best to help you along. I expect you to pull yourself together and be courteous to everyone, most of all your teachers, regardless of how bored or otherwise aggravated you might feel at times. Is that quite clear?"

With each statement Kaden felt worse and his guilty expression, although visually lost on Drex, would have telegraphed across their bond. Was it clear? Well, yes, but he was struggling to accept his failures. He knew he had fucked up, but it was very hard for him to admit as much. Yet, Kaden did so, because ultimately he really did trust Drex. "Clear."

"Alright," Drex said calmly. "You're still going to be punished because, as unhappy as I am with your rudeness, I am infinitely more displeased with what you admitted to doing during the meditation that Raven made you perform. That was not only rude, it was downright dangerous. I was monitoring you pretty closely and shielded Raven from the worst of it. She's not nearly experienced enough to handle this on her own. That she managed somehow, with the help of my shielding, is impressive enough, but had I not protected her, your outburst could have affected her badly. Was that really your intention or did you simply not think?"

The pronouncement that Drex was planning to further punish him didn't exactly come as any great surprise. He just hoped fervently that it would be extra meditations; he deserved as much, he knew that. That Drex had needed to shield Raven from him hit Kaden hard. He hadn't expected that bombshell! Had he really gotten that far out of control and not even realised it? Fuck! He did his best not to telegraph just how bad he felt about that. Had it been his intention to hurt her? Well, yes, but, NO! At least not seriously. At the time, he had just lost his temper and thought to get a little of his own back! Both were equally bad, he knew. He dragged a hand down his face, not wanting to admit to that. "I didn't mean it. I only wanted to scare her, to get back at her for forcing me into meditating." It was more than that, of course, and they both knew that so he added. "For this whole situation."

"This whole situation is none of her fault," Drex said. "And you know that perfectly well. In contrast to you, though, she tried to do her duty and make the best out of it. If you had ended up hurting her, 'I didn't mean it' would have been a very feeble excuse indeed, wouldn't it?"

There was nothing Kaden could say to that. Drex was right. "Yes, Master," he agreed, head down and feeling rotten.

"I think I had better make sure that you make more of an effort, both with your behaviour and your temper," Drex said implacably. "I don't want anything like this to happen again, nor will I allow behaviour like yours to go unpunished. Go and fetch me my hairbrush."

Kaden's head snapped up at that command. "What?" The word barely came out and sounded choked. "Master, please don't. I can't take any more. Can it wait until tomorrow?" At this point, his pride was out the waste hatch; he had resorted to outright begging and pleading. He backed into his bunk – why, he had no idea because there was no escape route behind his bed! Not that he would attempt such a thing, he wasn't that brave, or stupid? Kaden wasn't quite sure which category attempting to run would land in.

Drex shook his head implacably. "No, it cannot," he said. "Do what I told you. Now."

Realistically, Drex knew that this was going to be very hard on Kaden and that he could not possibly punish him as if the belting he had received from Raven did not exist. And he was not going to. However, he wanted to send a strong message to his padawan, and the more immediately the message was brought across, the more of an impression it was going to leave. Besides, Kaden had got away with far too much during the past days and had ignored entirely too many warnings. He was not going to get out of this.

Kaden's insides turned to ice. Fuck! Fuck, and fuck! he ranted. Thankfully, his crude inner monologue was not something Drex would hold him accountable for, even if he were privy to his private thoughts. The boy stood there like a bantha in headlights for a long moment. When he remembered how to use his legs, he dragged his feet towards their refresher, took the brush from its place on the right side of the sink and winced. He hated this thing. It was impossibly hard, heavy and the pain was horrendous even on and unpunished ass! Again, the boy dragged his feet back to where Drex stood and very reluctantly held out the dreaded brush for him to take. He did not bother with further begging; it was futile. He did, however, start to cry, and he didn't care how un-manly this was, he was not looking forward to this.

Drex steeled himself against Kaden's tears and ignored them for now. There would be a time to offer comfort later. Right now, he merely accepted the brush, walked over to the desk, pulled out the chair and sat down.

"You know the drill, padawan," he said calmly. He planned to check the state of Kaden's bottom before he started to spank. He also was not planning on using the hairbrush for more than a few swats at the end, in order to emphasise his point. Nor did he think he would have to use the paddle to make his point this time around. If Kaden had really received a proper belting from Raven, his skin was going to be sensitive enough as it was.

Kade did know the DRILL, but he sure as hell didn't want to follow it! Reluctantly, he reached for his belt clasp and unclipped it, tossing it aside, and started to unfasten his pants for the second time that hour. His hands were trembling a bit; he was actually afraid that he would not be able to withstand this. When he had his pants down, he craned his neck to assess the state of his ass: yep, it was red and welted; Raven had done a thorough job. He gave the area a gentle rub. Then, with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man heading to the gallows, he awkwardly bent his hulking frame across his masters lap. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, but he assumed that if Drex had him here, the last thing on his mind was his comfort. He moved around in an effort to better protect his undercurve, but again, he knew this was futile, so he simply braced himself with his hands and feet and bit his lip so he wouldn't be tempted to beg. It was one thing to start crying before Drex had even started on him, it was another entirely to start simpering!

Drex gently ran his hand over Kaden's exposed bottom, assessing its state. Yes, his padawan had not exaggerated: Raven had done a thorough job; not that he blamed her for it. Her efforts had been focussed on the centre of Kaden's bottom, though, with little damage to the sides and hardly any on the thighs. Having found out as much, Drex laid the hairbrush onto the table and started spanking with his hand. He did not use quite as much force as he had the last time, but then, he would hardly need to since he targeted the exact area that had received a thorough belting a short while ago.

Kaden's response to this was as expected. His cries immediately morphed into wailing. It fucking hurt! He fisted the rug tightly and squirmed around but, as usual,this did nothing to direct where Drex landed the next smack. "Master! P-please!" He knew begging was pointless but couldn't help it, he just couldn't.

This time around, Drex definitely did not need to overtax the strength of his right arm in order to leave an impression. He simply continued to rain swats onto the centre of Kaden's bottom until the boy started to sob. Then he paused, waited for Kaden to quiet down a little and said: "That was for your inconsiderate and rude behaviour. What comes now is for what you did to Raven during your meditation. Under no circumstances do I want a repeat occurrence." He picked up the hairbrush and brought it down onto the tops of Kaden's thighs with a resounding swat.

"N-nooo! Mas-ter NO, I can'ttttt!" Kaden practically squealed, but it was too late and a second later he felt the brush connect with his thigh. To say that this animated the boy was an understatement. He bucked, kicked, writhed and generally flailed about. He couldn't help it. Drex might be targeting skin that Raven left alone, but she had left it alone for a reason; it was very sensitive there! Kaden wailed loudly enough to alert the entire ship, and possibly some of the planets whizzing past their hyperspace course.

Drex was drawing on the Force to soundproof the cabin. Most masters did this when they disciplined their charges; it was not difficult and saved their padawans considerable embarrassment. He was tempted to cover his ears at the volume of Kaden's wails. Of course he did no such thing; instead, he brought the hairbrush down again. All in all, he gave Kaden twelve solid swats, not at full force, but none too lightly either. Most of these landed on the tops of his thighs and a few at the sides of his bottom where the belt had not struck. Drex was normally more thorough than this, but right now he honestly felt that this was all Kaden could handle, and more than sufficient to bring his point across.

When Drex was through with him, Kaden was a hot mess. He had snot and tears all over his face, his throat was sore from all the screaming and wailing he'd done over the last hour and he was in more pain than he could remember being in a very long time. He made no effort to remove himself from the awkward position as he usually would. This time he just wanted to indulge in his howling for a while longer which was very unlike him, but Drex had quite literally spanked the pride clean out of him for now. It took him a while to pull himself together, but when he did he accepted Drex's help up and hug gratefully. He had survived. Just!

"I know this was harsh, Padawan," Drex said quietly. "And I'm sorry I had to do this. But I had good reason to, and we will talk more about this in a while. For now, lie down and rest a bit. I will fetch you some bacta. I think you need it."

Kade swiped a sleeve under his nose and across his eyes. Both were stinging from rubbing them but they didn't hold a candle to the pain radiating from his ass; it was horrendous. Wordlessly, he inclined his head and moved to his bunk where he lie on his tummy. He didn't bother replacing his pants. Absolutely nothing was going to touch his ass right now unless it was ice or bacta. Kaden closed his eyes and sniffled; he was feeling pretty rotten over how he had acted towards Raven.

Drex intended to help his padawan feel better soon. He made his way to the galley where Eeth and Raven were sitting, reading from data pads.

Raven looked up when Drex entered, her expression pensive. "Master Zaryth," she said to get his attention. "About Kaden, I think we need to talk. Is he okay?" she started as the man went through the cupboard that housed their medical kits.

Drex took out a tin of bacta and turned towards Raven. "No," he said. "And that is not merely due to your punishment. He received one from me as well – not for acting up during your lesson but for what he did to you during meditation. He flung all his negative emotions at you at once, without restraining himself. He doesn't even do that with me; to you, it could have been positively harmful. You managed to deal with that onslaught impressively, but had I not shielded you from the worst of it, things might not have looked so well."

Raven frowned. Hearing that Kaden had purposefully thrown the kitchen sink at her, so to speak, had come as a bit of a surprise. That Drex had shielded her from the worst was an outright shock. How had she missed that? She looked from Drex to Eeth and then back again as that news sunk in. Her eyes narrowed. Why, that little turd! she thought. Outwardly, however… "Why, that little turd!" The teen bristled, but only slightly.

Eeth pointed a stern look at her but it was half-hearted because he tended to agree with that assessment.

"Rest assured that I did my best to make sure he will not do that again in a hurry," Drex said calmly, slightly raising the tin of bacta.

As annoyed as Raven was over Kaden's behaviour, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic when she noticed Drex holding a tin of bacta. Her ire ebbed, and she deflated a little; Drex had warned her, after all. "It was my own fault. You did tell me to leave his anger issues to you. I'm sorry, it won't happen again," she told him honestly.

"It had better not," Drex said but his tone of voice carried more concern than reproach. "I assume none of us expected something like this. It came as a surprise and you did the best you could. But you have seen for yourself now how dangerous Kaden can be, so please do leave his anger issues to me."

Raven took that in stride, her head inclining slightly; she had expected as much. "I was pretty hard on him. I hope that I didn't overstep my bounds because I didn't mean to. I thought he needed me to leave an impression, so I tried to do that." Kaden was the first official padawan peer she had actually been assigned to teach, after all.

"Kaden sometimes needs his teachers to be hard on him," said Drex. "If they aren't, he will keep testing his boundaries. Believe me, I was hard on him as well. I got out the bacta for a reason."

"I can offer some Force-aided healing," said Eeth. "We will arrive tomorrow and will need him to be at his full strength then."

Drex thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," he said. "But let me tend to him first. I think he needs me to. I will call you in when I'm done."

He entered their cabin, bacta in hand, and knelt next to Kaden's bunk. "Here we go," he said gently, starting to dab bacta onto the boy's bottom. "Did you learn anything from all this, padawan?"

"I did…." He replied softly, hissing quietly as the bacta made contact with his ass. Kaden presented a pitiful sight. Sure, Drex couldn't see him, but he knew the man would still sense that his gaze was downcast, and demeanour well and truly chastened.

"I know it hurts," Drex said sympathetically. "And I did not enjoy doing this to you. But I have to say I felt it was warranted. You'll feel a little better once the bacta takes effect. Eeth offered to provide some Force-aided healing as well. Now, tell me what it was you learned."

To restate his failings and how he'd learned from them felt humiliating. Kade grimaced, but it might have been misconstrued as pain from the initial effects of the bacta. If Drex had even been able to see his grimace, that was. "I don't know… That I should obey my superiors." He knew this wasn't going to be enough for Drex, though, so he delved a little deeper. "I didn't mean to throw all of that at Raven. Well, actually, I did and I regret it; she didn't deserve that. It wasn't the actions of a Jedi, but my anger makes me do stupid things. I won't make that mistake again." he confessed, not that any of this would be news to Drex.

"It does," Drex replied. "And I should really hope you don't do it again because if you do, I will take my hairbrush to you every day for a week, and you will pretty much spend the rest of that week meditating on why, exactly, there's no place for giving in to one's anger in a Jedi's life. My more immediate concern is the issue of obeying your superiors, though. We are going to arrive on Barslaa tomorrow. Eeth is the leader of our team and I'm sure you have no issue with accepting his authority. Raven, however, is the expert here, and she is going to take the lead. And you, padawan, are going to obey her orders. All this nonsense about your adolescent male pride has to stop. It's impeding you from doing your duty, and I won't stand for that. That's why I was unwilling to postpone your spanking, painful though it was. It's a lesson I needed you to learn now, not tomorrow or next week."

Kaden blanched at the threat, but he wasn't entirely sure Drex meant it. Would Drex ever be that harsh with him? In any case, he decided that it wasn't worth testing him over because, Force help him, he couldn't endure one encounter with that brush, let alone several in a row. The meditations would simply add salt to the wound. He listened to all that Drex had to say, his guilt increasing with each word. He didn't know what to say and so he remained silent, his head down and shame clear.

Drex was entirely serious about his threat. It had been a very real possibility for Raven to get hurt by Kaden and he could not allow that to happen. Drex was still not sure whether he ought to feel guilty for allowing her to take over Kaden's Ataru training. He had expected Kaden to have reached a degree of maturity that prevented his temper from taking over. Maybe this was a new stage of adolescence; the boy seemed to have more difficulty dealing with his pride than had been the case a few months ago..

"You could have actually harmed Raven," he explained to his hapless padawan, wiping his fingers on a tissue. "That's no small thing. If we were at the Temple right now, I would certainly take away your saber. I'll let you keep it for now in deference to the fact that we're arriving on Barslaa tomorrow and you might need it, but if you give me the slightest cause to complain about the way you handle your aggression or frustration from now on, your saber is gone. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes, master," the boy replied subduedly. He really did feel bad for having let his anger get the better of him, and for what that might have meant for Raven. He wasn't intrinsically evil, but he was powerful and that power was sometimes overwhelming, uncontrolled and it needed a very experienced hand to taper. He looked up at his aged master and felt yet more guilt. He didn't want to cause him grief but he was doing just that.

Drex screwed the jar of bacta shut and stood to put it away and wash his hands. Then he returned to Kaden's bunk, sat on the edge and rested his hand on the boy's back. "Still feeling guilty?" he asked gently, having quite an acute sense of what went on inside his padawan. "Well, in this case, I have to admit I'd be worried if you weren't. I believe you have been sufficiently punished, but you will probably have to make it up to Raven in order to feel better about it. After all, she was the one you did this to. I'll send in Eeth for the Force-aided healing session he promised, and then you should find Raven. Tonight, I'll meditate with you and help you sort out your feelings about this whole affair. Alright?"

Drex's touch was soothing. "Alright," Kaden replied, his head still down and buried in the crook of his elbow. He didn't want to face Eeth, not after what he had done to the man's apprentice. Fuck, he might just kill him! The boy swallowed, but did not make to move. He did, however, eye the airlock briefly…

Drex knew that his padawan was far from over this, but that was only to be expected. He had done something that might have caused serious harm to another person, after all; there was no magic cure that could stop him feeling guilty about this in a matter of minutes. Drex squeezed Kaden's shoulder affectionately and said: "Just stay as you are. I'll send Eeth in."

Eeth was waiting in the galley. He had given Raven some free time since he had sensed that she was distinctly fatigued after that whole experience. Besides, he'd promised it before the lesson.

"You can go in now," Drex said. "He can really use some healing. Neither your padawan nor myself were gentle with him. But he deserved it and he knows it. He's feeling extremely guilty, and I think he's also expecting you to tear him to pieces."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "I trust you have already done that," he said and rose. "So I will not. He should apologise to Raven, though."

"He will," said Drex.

"Alright," said Eeth, knowing that if Drex said it, it was going to happen. He made for Drex's and Kaden's cabin. "Padawan Kaden," he said neutrally upon stepping inside and closing the door behind himself. "I hear you received quite some punishment. I will see what I can do to alleviate the aftereffects."

Kaden's heart started thumping in his chest as he heard the door to their room slide open. Of course, he knew Eeth would not actually kill him, well, he gathered those rumours were false… They were! He sat up, suddenly feeling the need to be upright, and winced. Fuck! His ass still stung from the bacta and, to add insult to injury, it was now smudging all over his sheets. "I did, and… thanks," he said, trying to sound calm.

The edges of Eeth's mouth twitched slightly. He knew what kind of an effect he tended to have on students in general and Kaden in particular. "Relax and lie back down," he said. "I am not going to eat you, despite everything that Raven and Flynt might feel tempted to tell you."

Kaden did as he was told. Immediately. "You don't have the right teeth," he said quietly… but it fell flat. The boy feigned a cough and lay on his stomach just praying that Eeth did not wallop his ass because he truly did not think he could take another smack. The guilt he felt was palpable. If someone had done that to his apprentice, he'd have been pissed as all get out, but Eeth didn't seem to be. Kade reached out with the Force in an effort to sense something from Raven. He couldn't sense blinding rage, so that was one bonus at least… He looked back over his shoulder. "I'm sorry." Was all he said because to say anything else would seem shallow.

"Apology accepted," Eeth said calmly, kneeling and starting to let healing energy flow into the damaged area. Raven and Drex combined had certainly done a thorough job, he could see as much despite the bacta; it would have been a harsh punishment even by Eeth's high standards. But then, Kaden had had it coming. "In any case," he continued, "it is not me you should apologise to, it is Raven."

Kaden nodded once, but kept his head buried in the crook of his elbow. The pain blazing across his ass and thighs was beginning to ebb, thank the Force. That had been among the worst punishments he had endured. He had not at all anticipated Raven to lay into him like she had. In fact, he was certain she stopped just shy of actually taking the skin from his ass. Having Drex add to it had ratcheted that experience into his top five most memorable punishments. Not just because it was harsh, but also because it had been Raven! A girl, his first crush, his peer and friend… What a mess. Kade squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face. He just had to stop thinking like this! It wasn't conducive to his goal of knighthood and if he didn't quit it, he wouldn't be sitting down before then either. He turned his head to the side and glanced back at Eeth, a slightly pained expression on his face. "Do you want a piece of me, too? For what I did to your apprentice." he questioned. Kaden wasn't sure if Eeth was healing him simply to tear his ass up again himself.

"Why should I?" asked Eeth. "It is Raven who is your teacher, not me. And I think Drex already called you to task for flinging your anger at her during meditation. If I punished you as well, that would be little more than petty revenge. Quite pointless and quite un-Jedi-like. It is not as if we go around looking for reasons to spank you, you know."

Well, yes, actually, revenge had been exactly what Kaden was thinking, as un-Jedi-like as that was. Besides, he doubted there would be anything petty about it if Eeth decided to tear his ass up for him. He didn't say as much, though, focusing instead on keeping still and what he was going to say to Raven. When the man finished, he got to his feet and righted his clothing. The bacta was dry now and so it didn't stick his ass to the material. "Thanks," he offered, his tone carrying genuine gratitude. Kaden knew that Eeth had given Raven the night off as they had completed their lesson early, and he wondered if Drex planned to keep his word there, too, or if his behaviour meant the man would revoke that privilege. He followed Eeth from the room. His gait was slightly stiff and his eyes were still red-rimmed; it was clear that he had spent a good deal of time crying.

Thankfully, Lakhri and Flynt were still in the cockpit. Drex was seated at the table with his headphones on. He stopped the audio file he was listening to when Eeth and Kaden entered.

"Am I still free for the night?" Kaden asked Drex very quietly, hoping that Eeth wouldn't hear the exchange.

Drex considered this question. "Mostly," he finally said. "You should help prepare dinner, and we will meditate together quite a bit longer than usual before you go to bed, but apart from that, you are free. You should seek out Raven now, though."

"She might be in our cabin," Eeth, who did not bother pretending not to have heard, supplied. He had fetched himself a drink of water and now made his way to the cockpit to see how Flynt was doing.

Kaden looked like he had bitten on a lemon. He wasn't exactly looking forward to making this apology to Raven. It wasn't because he thought it was in any way undeserved, but because he didn't know what to say, or how to start, for that matter.

Drex took off his headphones. "Which part of 'now' haven't you understood?" he asked.

The last thing Kaden wanted to do right now was go anywhere near Raven. He wanted to piss Drex off even less, though, thus the boy turned without comment and went to find her. He still had no idea how he was meant to start this. What if she was busy or didn't want to talk to him? What was he meant to do then? All these thoughts and more whizzed through his mind as he approached the common room area; it was the only room with movement, and the flicker of blue lights clued him in to what she was doing… He took a breath, closed his eyes and … stood there.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you going to stand in the door all night?" Raven asked without taking her eyes off her holographic opponent. Just then a droideka was sent flying into the wall, and two more were rolling in to take its place. She was now jumping around the room animatedly in an effort to dodge and counter the blaster fire raining down on her. This particular game was a fun version of the many training simulations they undertook at the Temple. Raven happened to love them and did her best to force her not so fun-loving master to join her at each and every opportunity. Unfortunately, everyone had been busy when she had asked; Lakhri and Flynt were piloting through the asteroid belt, Eeth was helping Kaden with the state of his ass, and Drex? Well, she wasn't sure if a blind Jedi could actually play this sort of game as he wouldn't be able to sense or see the projections.

Wordlessly, Kaden stepped inside the room. It was dark, but the holographic opponents Raven was fighting gave off a slight blue glow which in turn lit up objects around the room as they moved. He was still feeling decidedly guilty and no less awkward; people skills had never been his strong suit. The boy made to sit on the couch and watch her, only to think better of it and kneel, while his back leaned comfortably into the cushioned settee.

Raven caught Kaden's movement in her peripheral vision but did not comment. She knew Eeth wouldn't have taken all his pain, even if he could, and the bacta would take a short while to fulfil its purpose. She was not entirely unsympathetic. After all, the teen had been in his position more times than she could count over the years.

Kade couldn't join in; not until she'd finished this level, in any case. He watched her play until she was eventually overwhelmed and the game began to reload.

"You want to play? We can switch to duelling mode if you like," Raven suggested, pausing to reset the holoprojector and moving to sit by his side while it loaded.

"Yeah, why not," Kaden replied. The truth was, his ass wasn't up for a lot of jumping around right now, but he was at a loss for what else to do here.

Raven could sense he wanted to talk to her, but was struggling. Well, too bad; she wasn't going to make this easy on him. There had been many times over the years she had almost been sick with the amount of humble pie Eeth had forced her to eat. It was a lesson that Kaden needed to learn, more so than herself.

They played for about forty-five minutes, switching modes twice but avoiding anything too physical.

Raven was busy packing the game chips away when Kaden finally spoke up. "Look, I'm sorry about what I did," he said so quietly that Raven almost didn't hear him.

She didn't say anything for a moment, then stood and turned to face him. "Your master told me you did that on purpose. You're damn lucky I didn't know that when I was dealing with you. I might have decided to feed you to Drex instead."

Kaden gave her a meaningful look; as painful as Raven had made it, a punishment from Drex would have been worse. Still… "I didn't get off lightly. I'm sure the entire ship heard me."

"Heard? No, at least not while you were with Drex. In my experience, most masters soundproof the room," she told him and sat down by his side.

"Did you?" he asked pointedly.

Raven gave him a penetrating look. "No."

"And why the Force not?"

"Because," Raven said a little derisively. "I'm not a master. Besides, I needed to concentrate on what I was doing. Contrary to what you might think, I haven't had to deal out consequences on that level before."

The boy huffed but dropped his gaze when she raised a brow.

"I am, however, apprenticed to the strictest Jedi master in the Temple. You don't make it through an apprenticeship with Eeth Koth without learning a thing or two about meting out meaningful consequences. If you think I was harsh, piss Lakhri off and see what happens to you."

"Lakhri? No way." Kaden wasn't convinced. Lakhri was as easy-going as Jedi got.

Raven smiled, the graveness between them dissipating with their banter. "That's a common misconception. Believe me, I know. He's been known to borrow my master's cane on occasion."

"You're kidding. What the Force did Flynt do to earn that?"

"Not just Flynt. And Force, what didn't Flynt do!" she guffawed. "Flynt was a handful when he was younger. He once told my master that it was not his place to correct him as Lakhri was his master. You can imagine how that when over."

Kaden just blinked. "And he lived, impressive. I'm not feeling so bad now…" After a second to process his words, he winced; if Raven had forgiven him yet, she hadn't said as much.

"You ought to feel bad. You could have seriously hurt me, and over what? Your pride? Ego? To be honest, I'm surprised you're not confined to your quarters. Had I dared ever do such a thing…" Raven trailed off because she actually couldn't imagine what Eeth would do had she pulled such a stunt.

All right, so she was still a bit touchy about that. The boy swallowed and carded a hand through his short mop of dark hair. "Raven… I do feel bad. You aren't obligated to forgive me, and I won't hold it against you if you don't. I probably deserve to feel bad for a while."

Those words softened the girl. It had been the humility she had been waiting for, after all. Without hesitation, she pulled him into a one-armed hug like she often did with Flynt. "I forgive you."

"You do?" he questioned, and for the first time in hours, he smiled. "Thanks, I will make it up to you."

"I expect you to. I don't want to deal with this again. I think it goes without saying that if you give me any trouble, I'm not going to let it run on as it did before."

Kaden nodded. He felt both ashamed and humiliated. Then again, he also felt strangely relieved; Raven wasn't going to let him run wild, she was going to be in control, and there was a certain sense of safety in that.

It was at that moment that Drex entered the room. Raven stood and greeted him. "Master Zaryth, I'd have invited you to play with us, but these games are all visual."

Drex smiled. "Thanks. And not to worry. I was just going to fetch Kaden to help me with dinner preparation. It's our turn, padawan."

In the meantime, Eeth had gone to check on Lakhri and Flynt. As it turned out, they had just passed the asteroid belt, and the ship was back to navigating on auto-pilot. Flynt had called up a map of their destination, the Hoamant region on Barslaa, onto the main screen. "See?" he was saying to Lakhri as Eeth entered. "Our landing pad is right next to the town of Tuppset, famous for its nightlife. Says the travel guide. So…"

Lakhri rolled his eyes. "Flynt, you're from Coruscant. You can have all the nightlife you want any time."

"Well, as a matter of fact, 'any time' means 'not very often'," Flynt pointed out. "Besides, this Tuppset place is supposed to be all picturesque. Oldest settlement on the planet."

"How exciting," said Lakhri. "Well, I'm not saying yes or no right now. We don't know what to expect and whether there will be any free time for excursions into Barslaa's thrilling nightlife. If there is, I can consider it. As long as Eeth allows it, being our mission leader and all." He flashed a grin at Eeth.

"I will only allow it if–" Eeth started.

"–if it doesn't interfere with our duties, I know, I know," Lakhri finished the sentence for him, chuckling. "As if I would give Flynt permission to go otherwise. Honestly, Eeth, you're so predictable!"

Seeing the blank look on Eeth's face that told him the man had no idea how to interpret this jibe, he added: "And we love you for it. Come on, let's go and see whether we can help Drex and Kaden with dinner."

As the three apprentices cleaned up after dinner, Flynt filled them in on what they'd discovered about the nightlife. "It's a city in the Hoamant region called Tuppset. Eeth said we might be able to go take a look." He assumed a slightly rigid stance meant to imitate his grandmaster. "As long as it doesn't interfere with our mission."

Kaden's eyes widened as he stacked the steriliser; it sounded fascinating to him. He was only fifteen, though, and was hoping that he wasn't left out of the fun, especially if the others got to go.

"Could be fun. It's been a while since I've been out. You know, the last time I was allowed to visit the nightlife was when my brother, Bram, was studying on Coruscant last year." Raven had returned late, too, which had not gone over well with Eeth. The memory of the forty swats Eeth had given her for the forty minutes she was late had the girl wince. "You're both technically underage; I'm not sure either of you will be allowed in. We'll have to look into the local laws and find out." And that was precisely what they did that night.

They were all seated at the table, data pads in hand and reading about the entertainment and nightlife, when Drex entered. Kaden had hoped that Drex would forget about the extended meditation this evening, but apparently, he was not going to be so lucky. "Night," he told Raven and Flynt dejectedly and left without complaint.

When they entered their room, Kaden got himself changed into a clean pair of sleep pants. He knew that to ask for privileges after his behaviour today was probably not the smartest move, but he wanted to know. "Flynt and Raven were talking about the nightlife in Tuppset. The age restriction is fifteen and over. Would you let me go, too?"

"Maybe," said Drex. "I will not make a decision on that before I have actually seen the place." It was not as if he could literally see it, or any other place, but he sometimes used the expression regardless, as a shortcut that anyone would understand. He was sure none of the other masters would give their consent without having seen the place either. Drex knelt down and pointed for Kaden to do the same opposite him. "We're going to follow a more complex meditation pattern tonight than we've done so far," he told Kaden. "It's particularly effective in controlling your negative emotions and releasing them slowly, one by one. It's also demanding; it will require all your focus." But that, Drex felt, was only fair after what Kaden had subjected Raven to.

The boy let out a sigh but that was the extent of his complaints. He was on thin ice at the moment, and he knew it. Drex had not been kidding: the meditation they shared that evening was both lengthy and taxing. When the man finally allowed him to stop, he was mentally exhausted. He wanted to berate him for punishing him further but knew that Drex would probably say it wasn't punishment to learn a new skill. Kaden begged to differ. "If you're done torturing me, may I go to bed, please?" he asked; it was just on the right side of polite.

"Kaden, we've discussed your liberal use of the word 'torture' before," Drex said calmly and firmly, "especially when it comes to things that you brought upon yourself. And I seem to remember that every single time, we have come to the conclusion that I had good reason to do what I did, as opposed to taking personal enjoyment from 'torturing' you. I'm sure if you make an effort you can come up with other words to describe what happened just now and earlier today. In short, I expect you to rephrase your question."

Kade stood, the look on his face morphing from sullen to wide-eyed in a heartbeat. He took an involuntary step backwards, a hand unconsciously moving to cover his ass. There was just no way he wanted to do any more meditations, or Force help him, wind up over the man's knee. "Thank you for teaching me, master. May I go to bed now, please?" The words came out in a rush, but they were earnest. Earnestly not wanting to endure more, courtesy of his big mouth!

"You may," said Drex. He only allowed himself to smile after Kaden had entered the refresher.

The next morning saw Eeth waking everyone earlier than usual because they were about to leave hyperspace and approach the planet. "Padawan, you are needed in the cockpit," Eeth said, giving Raven's shoulder a firm shake. "Up with you."

"Arghhhalrighhhttt," Raven said through a yawn and tried to focus on her watch. "The cockpit will still be there in …" she finally focussed on the time. "It's five-thirty. Did you soil your bed?" she asked, knowing that he would probably not find anything at all amusing about that statement.

"Padawan!" Eeth snapped. "Shall I ask Lakhri to help me land the ship or are you going to oblige?"

"Ugh, no. You've already woken me, spare Lakhri," she told him melodramatically and flopped out of bed. Still scrubbing at her eyes, the girl threw herself into the shower and twenty minutes later emerged dressed in a clean set of robes. Her boots were polished, hair was pulled back into two neat rolled ponytails, and her newly fixed padawan's braid hung to just below her breast line. She met Eeth in the kitchen on the way to the cockpit. "Master," the padawan greeted him as she had done every morning for the past seven years, only with a bit more dignity than their first conversation that morning. She offered him a formal bow, snagged a piece of cut fruit from the pile he was cutting, wincing slightly as he lightly swatted at her hand, and then she took off into the cockpit.

"G'morning, grandmaster," Flynt greeted, entering the galley. Unlike Raven, Flynt had always been an early riser, as had Kaden who followed the taller teenager out. They were both dressed in clean robes, although Kaden's hair left a bit to be desired. He inclined his head in way of greeting and yawned. It was early, even for him.

"Good morning. Padawan Kaden, comb your hair," Eeth said predictably, drawing a frown from the boy. "Flynt, where is your master?"

Flynt might be an early riser, but Lakhri was not. He was still lying in bed when Eeth rapped sharply on the door.

"Get up, Lakhri!" he ordered. "We are landing soon!"

Rolling his eyes, Lakhri feigned a snore.

Eeth was not fooled. "I expect you for breakfast in ten minutes!" he called sternly. "Else, I will feed it to your padawan!"

"That's hitting below the belt, and you know it!" Lakhri called back, dropping his pretence to be asleep.

"Leave him be, Eeth," said Drex, who was just coming out of his room to see what the noise was. "He's a Jedi master, and a fairly competent one. You can trust him to get out of bed in time. I'm sure he manages when you're not around."

Eeth paused for a moment, honestly surprised. He had not thought that his behaviour might come across as a lack of trust. He tried to find something to counter Drex's statement but failed.

"You are probably right," he said, fully aware that this was a rather lame reply.

At this moment, the door came open and a sleep-tousled Lakhri peered out. "What stopped you from bullying me, a sarlacc?" he asked. "Oh. It's you, Drex. Well, thanks. But I'm up now. You can go and bother someone else, Eeth."

Eeth raised his hands in defeat. "I apologise, Lakhri," he said solemnly. "I did not exactly mean to boss you around, but I assume I did. Anyway. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. Raven is taking care of the landing."

"Alright, I'm coming," said Lakhri, giving both of them a brief smile and disappearing into the refresher. Eeth returned to the galley, not quite sure whether he was supposed to be aggravated or grateful.

Kaden passed Drex in the hall and huffed. "Messy hair," he said in way of explanation, his tone resigned.

Flynt had contemplated making a start on eating breakfast but knew that this was considered rude. So, he found Raven in the cockpit and slumped into the co-pilot's chair. "Can I help?" he asked, wishing it were him in the pilot's seat.

"Not really. It's a one-person job, a very straightforward landing. This platform even has tractor beams for those who still have their trainer wheels."

"Can I do it, then?" Flynt pressed.

"Flynttt," she said exasperatedly. "You know I'm not cleared to supervise yet. Lakhri would skin you alive if he found out."

Flynt opened his mouth only to have it closed again as Raven raised a finger to silence him.

"He will find out," she told him. "And I for one am not going to endure the wrath of my own master because you want to fly."

The dejected look on Flynt's face had Raven feeling sorry for him; she remembered all too well how it felt to be in his shoes. "Here." She tossed him the microphone clipped to her right lapel. "Get us clearance and guide me in." It was probably still going to be frowned upon, but at least it wasn't dangerous.

At this point, Lakhri came to check on them, a bowl of porridge in hand. "You might have asked," he told Raven when he realised that she was letting Flynt assist. "But it's alright. When we leave, you can do the take-off and I'll supervise, Flynt – I rather think Raven will be busy with the goyts then."

Raven gave Flynt an 'I told you so', look, but it had no bite to it.

Flynt was too caught up in the opportunity to do their take-off to look sheepish. "Thanks!" he told the man, twisting from his seat and eyeing his porridge hungrily. Well, he'd have to wait until later now, unless Lakhri ordered him out.

Lakhri dropped into a chair behind them and yawned. "Apparently, Drex told Eeth off for being a drill-sergeant," he told the two padawans. "I think Eeth is still not sure whether to be miffed or impressed. Could be interesting to watch. Unfortunately he only told him off AFTER he'd woken me, not before."

The man's comments on Eeth had Flynt raising both brows, but it was Raven who spoke up.

"I did try to save you, but alas, he can be… Well, you know what he's like," she smirked, flicking on a few switches and rising a panel of buttons for landing. "Maybe Drex will mellow him out a bit?" she added, as the clouds thinned out and land came into view.

"Diverse," Flynt commented, noticing a mixture of blues, greens and cities as their view cleared. "According to the file, the colonists drained most of the natural water resources to tend their fields. The small section of fertile swamp land left is where our goyts live now."

A grinding noise was heard, causing Flynt to straighten in his seat; that was not a noise he usually associated with any landing.

Raven smiled. "Relax, it's just the tractor beam. Told you this was going to be easy."

An hour later, they had landed.


	8. Chapter 8

It was early morning in this part of the planet, and the town of Tuppset, where they had landed, was only just coming to life. If possible, the Temple tried to schedule departures so that there would be little time lag. It had worked well this time.

"I propose I find a bakery and buy us some bread rolls or something," Lakhri said.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "You have just had breakfast," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but it wasn't very satisfying," retorted Lakhri. "Besides, you don't need six people to unload the shuttles. And we will need provisions if we are going to spend our day in the swamps with the goyts."

"You are right about the provisions," said Eeth. "Go and buy some, then, provided you can find an open shop. You might take Kaden. He can help you carry."

Drex nodded at Kaden to go ahead. Lakhri had been correct; they needed to unload their two cargo shuttles now and they did not need six persons for that.

"Oh so you take the muscle to get food, and leave the rest of us to unload, typical," Raven teased her Jedi brother as he led Kaden from their ship.

"Hey, what do you call all of this over here?" Flynt said in a mock indignant tone and gestured to his torso. He pulled up his tunic revealing a lean, albeit toned, ectomorph frame. "Bow before my glory."

Raven poked him in the stomach with her finger, causing Flynt to deflate.

Not much muscle power was actually needed to unload the shuttles. While Lakhri and Kaden were off finding food, the rest of the team packed the gear they thought they might need for today onto the shuttles. Then Eeth gave Flynt and Raven permission to fly the two shuttles out through the cargo hatch. They would use them to bring the goyts to the ship, but possibly not as early as today; they might need to find out more about these animals and their needs first. On the other hand, there was no time to lose. Goyts were shot by settlers on a daily basis whenever they strayed from the swamps, and since a big drainage project at the Eastern side of the swamps was taking away large stretches of land every week, that happened more and more often.

An hour later they were done and Lakhri and Kaden had returned with several bags of buns and pastries. Eeth locked the ship and gathered the small team around himself. "We are flying to the centre of the swamp, hoping we will find a place to land somewhere," said Eeth. "Raven, we are relying on you. Tell us what to do and what to look out for. Our aim is to find out as much as we can about the goyts and to start taking them to the ship as soon as you decide that we can do so safely. The sooner we start, the more we will be able to save from settlers. On the other hand, we need to be sure that we can feed them and keep them alive and well on our ship before we bring them there. Lakhri, Drex and Raven, you take the first shuttle. I will take the second with Flynt and Kaden. Any questions?" He was mixing the teams on purpose; he wanted them to get to know each other better, plus all padawans would benefit from working with Jedi other than their own masters.

"No, master." and "No, Sir," both Raven and Flynt replied respectively.

Kaden shook his head; he had no questions, but the expression on his face at hearing that he would be riding with Eeth was momentarily cautious. Two reasons: first and foremost, he was his master's eyes, and although the man did not at all require his apprentice's sight to function, Kaden did not like being separated from him. Secondly, Kaden and Eeth had a history. He was twelve and a half years old when Eeth had first met him, with less than six months to go until his chances of becoming a padawan were taken from him. He had been enrolled in the man's senior initiates' advanced saber class due to his skill with a lightsaber; that skill had been untamed, though, and threatened to take a dark turn without the proper training. Eeth had picked up on that almost immediately and set himself to finding him a master. Kaden had also earned himself memorable punishments from the man over the past few years, twice during those classes and again when he and Drex had worked together with Eeth and Raven in the Tchennik sector. It wasn't that Eeth was any harsher than his own master. Drex did not hesitate to rain down a shower of hell on his ass when it was called for, but there was something about the Councillors rigid demeanour that unnerved Kaden. He hid it well, schooling his features, and followed Eeth and Flynt to the shuttle.

"Shall I drive?" he offered, but his gaze locked on Flynt who had not bothered to hide his smirk of amusement.

"I've been taking various piloting lessons since I was thirteen," he announced a little arrogantly. It was true, after all. Drex was blind, hence Kaden had been enrolled as soon as practical to increase their usefulness to the Order.

Flynt held up both hands in a placating gesture, but it was decidedly patronising if you asked Kaden. He wasn't sure what to make of the ridiculously tall teenager. He was a smart ass, a trait Kaden could appreciate but did not himself possess.

"I know you are able to drive," Eeth replied without condescension. He was aware that Drex depended on his padawans to drive him and therefore had them learn the skill early, and he had seen in Kaden's file that he had passed his exams. "However," Eeth continued, "you are underage to do so on this continent. And so is Flynt, incidentally." He gave his grandpadawan a look that was designed to wipe the smirk off his face and motioned for them to get into the speeder.

Flynt took Eeth's glare and comment on the chin; not much bothered the teen these days, although he was at that awkward stage of adolescence where he wasn't yet an adult, but neither was he a child. It could be infuriating, and something that Lakhri addressed with a consistency that grated on the teenager; such nonsense had no place in the life of a Jedi, he knew. He sprang into the passenger seat, leaving the back seat for Kaden, and started skimming through the onboard maps. Of course, where they landed would be Raven's call so they could do little more than follow at this point.

Meanwhile, Lakhri said: "Raven, I'd let you drive, but I think it would be better if you focussed on finding us a landing spot with a maximum number of goyts in the vicinity. So you'd better take the passenger seat."

Drex nodded his agreement to this instruction and got into the back.

Raven sat where she was told to and closed her eyes, Lakhri had been correct; this was going to require quite an effort on her part if they wanted to do this efficiently. "That way," she told Lakhri, having gotten a clear sense of the goyts' collective minds. Yes, collective. Apparently, they could communicate with each other, to a limited extent, as their Force presences were linked. That might prove problematic, she passed on to the others, reminding them to keep an eye out for physical signs. Her lessons with animal expert Drkai Luthan had taught her that relying on her abilities alone could blind her to the obvious, so she opened her eyes as their shuttle took off and searched for signs that might help them learn more.

It became clear that there was a large population residing here. She spotted fur stuck in the bark of many tree trunks, and when Lakhri pointed up, the girl raised both brows. How the Force they had gotten up that high, she did not know. The smell, too, was something else. Their droppings smelt acrid; it was gross.

While Flynt had his tunic pulled up over his nose, Kaden was toughing it out. The boy's eyes watered, but he didn't care. "Grandmaster, was that you?" Flynt joked, although his jibe was cut off as a flash of dirty, white fur caught his peripheral vision.

"Stop," Raven called, her eyes closing once again. "Our presence is scaring them. They're going to take off into the farmlands if we go any further. They're semi-intelligent, but from what I can sense this might be akin to looking after a bunch of three-year-old initiates."

Eeth and Lakhri heeded Raven's warning. They stopped their shuttles and had them hovering in mid-air while they looked for a place to land. This was not exactly easy, given that this was a huge swamp and that the goyts were only able to live here due to being very light and rather small - something that could not be said for their shuttles. Finally, they found a place that seemed large and stable enough to hold one shuttle, but probably not both. Maybe this was for the better; one shuttle, holding a person who might be able to soothe the goyts to some extent, would scare them off less than two of them. Eeth conveyed this to Raven through their bond, asking her to have Lakhri land in the place he had identified.

"I will double back," he told Flynt and Kaden. "When we have found a place to land our shuttle, we will need to come here on foot, which might turn out to be rather hard. How we are going to collect the goyts under these conditions I do not know yet, but we will have to find a way."

Neither do I! Flynt thought. There were a lot of them and they were like very agile, erratic toddlers! They were going to have their work cut out for them on this one.

"Land over there," Raven announced, passing on Eeth's instructions to Lakhri.

When they touched down, one of the shuttle supports immediately began to sink, and Lakhri had to pull up fast to readjust their positioning; the patch was the only semi-solid land around that would support their shuttle's weight but apparently it was not without its quirks.

The moment their shuttle was more or less grounded, Raven vaulted from the passenger seat and crouched low, her gaze deliberately aimed at the mud. Ew, it really smelled. Drkai had told her that many herbivore animals were intimidated by eye contact and a submissive pose would gain her far more than force ever would. She remained on the sinking ground for a long time before the first goyt stuck its nose out from behind a tree trunk. Raven was doing her best to convey that they meant no harm and that they were here to ultimately save them from those that wished to eradicate them. The longer she sat there, the more goyts appeared until their shuttle was surrounded. Unfortunately, their confidence, thanks to Raven's presence, made them brazen. Two of the biggest jumped on the ship, eager to explore this strange shiny object that had appeared from nowhere.

Eeth, in the meanwhile, had trouble finding another place to land. Flynt and Kaden reached out with their senses, too, but they had no success either. In the end, they had to settle for the edge of the swamp that was closest to where the three others had landed, but getting there would still mean quite some walk. Through the swamps. "The next time, we will only take one shuttle, I think," said Eeth. "Or we will try to catch goyts walking inwards from the edge of the swamp."

He could sense that Raven was busy focussing on the goyts, so he pulled out his comlink and called Lakhri to inform him of their status. "We will need at least an hour to reach you, possibly more," he said. "There was simply no place to land, not without going further into the swamp which Raven feared might scare the goyts away. Tell Raven to start doing her job and not to wait for us. We will try to gather as much information as we can on the way."

"Alright," said Lakhri. He then told Raven what Eeth had said while Drex was gently persuading the goyts from actually entering the shuttle and climbing onto the backseat.

"Look out for traces of the goyts," Eeth said to Kaden and Flynt in the meanwhile. "We are especially interested in their dietary habits. Look for half-eaten leaves, grass, that kind of thing. Whatever we find, we will analyse. We will also take some of their dung and analyse it."

"Super," Flynt said with false jollity. "That can be your job," he added, clapping Kaden on the back.

"I'm not going to be the official goyt shit collector."

"But you'd be so good at it. Besides, you're the closest to the ground."

Kaden frowned at that logic. "Not happening."

"Oh, it so happening." Flynt countered, enjoying razzing the boy a bit.

"Is not."

"Is too."

"IS NOT!"

"IS TOO!"

"Keep it up, and I'll fry your ass with Force lightning." Kaden threatened.

This comment drew a grin from Flynt. Raven had told him how Kaden struggled with his temper and that Drex had him on a tight leash when it came to his anger. "You do that and Drex will fry your ass with something else. I bet I know who will be sorrier."

"Shut up and do your job," Kaden said without heat, and kicked a knob of goyt poo at Flynt's pant leg, unwittingly starting what was destined to turn into a shit fight, both metaphorically and literally.

Eeth, who had momentarily been busy scouting ahead for a path through the swamp, returned at this point. He had overheard the argument, and he was not happy with it. "Stop it, both of you," he said sharply, causing both boys to turn and face him. "Flynt, you have no business goading your fellow padawan. You are old enough by far to know better than that." Eeth took off his backpack and took out a container with different compartments, each with its own spoon-like contraption. "You collect dung samples," he told Flynt in a tone of voice that brooked no objection. "A different one to each compartment, without mixing them up. Kaden, you, being closer to the ground, look for traces of grass or herbs they have eaten. I will check the trees. And we all need to watch our step while we walk."

Given that neither Flynt nor Kaden wanted to risk pissing off Eeth, Kaden refrained from gloating at Flynt's job, and Flynt restricted his displeasure at his task to a frown. He accepted the container and scored the first sample off his trouser leg courtesy of Kaden; the kid was going down for that one, but he would need to bide his time.

Meanwhile, Raven was having more success with the goyts. Their collective awareness meant that if the lead animals felt safe, the rest tended to follow suit, so it was that the apprentice focused her attention on those she pegged as the leaders. It was a good tactic, and it worked. "Open the hatch," Raven called to Lakhri, curious to see how they reacted to the strange mechanical sounds. The sound of their opening hatch sent them all scuttling, and it took the padawan another hour to coax them back. She sensed Eeth approaching and stood. Her brow quirked as she noticed that Flynt's pant leg was splattered in poo, and, uh! Kaden too sported a large splotch, although it was right in the middle of his back. She had to work to cover her amusement. "They should be malleable in a day or so," she told Eeth as he approached, and dusted off her tunic.

"Alright. Keep on working," Eeth told her. "The rest of us find out as much as we can about their dietary habits, what they do, where they sleep and so forth, preferably without scaring them off. Maybe we should split up."

While Flynt exchanged a few words with Raven, Eeth told Lakhri quietly: "You should talk to your padawan on occasion about working with younger team members and treating them with respect. Flynt has not exactly been doing that with Kaden. Making fun of Kaden and provoking him is not helpful."

Lakhri sighed and nodded. "Yeah, he'd do that, wouldn't he? Alright. I'll talk to him." He rose and called: "Flynt, c'mon! Let's head off east and see what we can find."

Seeing that they were each dividing off into pairs as opposed to singular as she'd first assumed, Raven automatically moved to Eeth's side and waited. When he didn't make to move, she looked up, her large grey eyes meeting his dark gaze. It took her a moment, but soon she realised that he wanted her to take the lead in this aspect of their mission so she stepped forward and lead them north, a long line of goyts in tow. Apparently, they liked her.

Flynt walked to his master's side, hands behind his back, and waited for instructions. He looked down, seeing only the top of Lakhri's slightly tousled brown hair. He sensed that something was slightly off, although he wasn't sure.

Lakhri ran a hand through his curls as he usually did when he was trying to decide how to approach a topic. He finally decided to be blunt about it. "Eeth was not quite happy with how you got along with Kaden," he said to Flynt as they made their way along a path between glistening pools of water. "What happened?"

"For real?" The teen looked a little surprised at hearing that, but was wary all the same; Lakhri might be easy-going, but if he fucked up, the man would fuck him up in kind. "We were just funning, honest. Or," the teen scratched his head. "At least I was… I didn't mean any harm, we were just having a little fun, you know?"

"Him being younger than you, and the youngest of our mission team," Lakhri replied. He thought he had an idea what had been going on, and he had to agree with Eeth: This had better stop. "If you were 'funning', and he was not, what does that tell you about the kind of fun you were having?" he inquired.

Flynt ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to answer that. "I really was just messing with him," he pressed. "I'll knock it off.' He looked down at his master, a genuine expression on his face.

"Please do," replied Lakhri. "Because messing with a considerably younger padawan can turn into bullying quite fast. Since Kaden is most likely the type who will strike back if pushed too hard, we will end up with a situation that won't make this mission any easier. And don't think for a moment that I won't hold you responsible if that happens."

Lakhri knew what he was talking about; letting others provoke him into un-Jedi-like reactions, mostly by making fun of his small size, had been a constant issue with him when he had been a junior padawan. He knew that Eeth had been right to correct this type of behaviour, but he could also relate to how Kaden must be feeling when being goaded by Flynt.

The threat was acknowledged, and the teen now felt a little guilty. "I'll back off. I really was just trying to lighten him up a bit," he said sincerely. Their poo war had been taken in good grace, or so he thought, but then again, Flynt was not the best at judging such things. Being held responsible for complicating their mission, however, was another matter and he scratched at the back of his head nervously as they continued to walk. Much to Flynt's relief, at that moment they came across a well-worn track that was slightly elevated from the swampy mush. "They must come this way often. I wonder what it leads to, if anything?" Flynt thought aloud.

"Let's find out," said Lakhri and smiled at Flynt, showing him that he was done telling him off. It turned out that this track led to a hillock that allowed them to see just how little was left of the swamps. After a kilometre, at most, the drainage ditches started, and they could see farmers on speeder bikes controlling the fields. There was no fencing; apparently, the farmers thought it cheaper to just shoot those goyts that strayed into their territory. "That," said Lakhri solemnly, "explains the urgency."

"It does," Flynt agreed, his expression serious. Like the others, he didn't like that the goyts' lives were given zero value. "Let's see what's on the other side," he suggested. After receiving a nod, he led the way. They found several muddy pools that smelled worse than Flynt could describe, but more importantly, a large increase of what Raven had suggested might be the goyts' preferred food source. It was a bush with red berries, and apparently, it liked to grow in the most inhospitable of conditions, at least to humanoids. Flynt had his tunic up over his nose so only his eyes were visible. "I will be forced to rename them if this keeps up," he thought aloud, his voice partially muffled thanks to his tunic.

While Flynt was busy gagging, Kaden was knee deep in his own misfortune. "Argh. This sucks. I'm going to need new boots if this keeps up," he stated, having failed to detect the false ground in time. The boy's pants were drenched and mud covered from the knee down.

Drex was moving across the swamp with far greater ease than Kaden because it was a lot easier to sense the best path through the Force than it was to see it; often, what looked like solid ground was only grass covering pools of water. "I think," Drex said to Kaden, "we are nearing the centre of the swamp. There are a lot of goyts in the bushes ahead of us. Are there any trees that will hold your weight and allow you to watch without disturbing them?"

Kade looked around and spotted something that might be thick enough to hold his weight. "Possibly, but not the two of us." Drex was a good head taller than Kaden and weighed a bit more, although that was fast changing as the boy continued to bulk out. He tested the limb, doing his best not to scare the goyts off, then jumped up. Drex had found a spot close-by, and between the two of them, they both observed what was going on, Kaden with his eyes and Drex through his sense of the Force.

* * *

"They like bright colours and heat. We found a group of them resting in what I assume is their sleeping area. And thankfully, the stinky mud is not a requirement for their survival. Wherever we choose will need to have bodies of water, though. Not that they'll have much luck with water here if we don't move them soon," Raven told the group when they had reassembled several hours later.

Flynt nodded. "We saw as much from a hill. There isn't a lot left now, the farmers have all but taken over."

"I watched a family group for a while. They glow when they interact, but they also use it as a defence mechanism to camouflage themselves when threatened. Also, their fur either flattens down or stands on end to better melt into their environment," Kaden contributed. He had worked that out when he'd snapped a twig in the tree he'd been perching on, startling the group.

"Cool to be them," said Flynt.

Raven ran a hand across her face, inadvertently scraping a line of muck across her forehead. "There are a couple of planets relatively close by that would work for them, but it will still be a trip of a few days."

"I hope they smell better than this one," Flynt commented.

Raven nodded. "Any place would be hard-pressed to outshine this stench. In any case, we can go over the options when we get back to the ship."

"Speaking of which, can we go soon? I'm wasting away here," Kaden interjected.

"Yes, we may return to the ship," said Eeth. "Raven, do you want to take the first batch of goyts now? If you do, at least two of us will have to walk back to the speeder I brought. If you do not, you can take all of us in the back and drop me off where I landed the other speeder. I will leave the decision up to you. The goyts are our priority."

"Let's start tomorrow. We should try to minimise the amount of time the goyts spend locked in our cargo bay, or we might end up neck-deep in their muck. The journey to even the nearest of the planets on our list will take three days, which will make cleaning up after them a full-time job as it is."

"Unless the cargo bay has a self-cleaning function. We can hope," said Kaden.

Flynt raised his hands in mock surrender. "Don't look at me, I was already made 'head poo boy' today," he told them all, shooting his grandmaster a dirty look.

"We are all going to have to share in that," Eeth said calmly, rising from where he had been sitting. "The ship has cleaning droids and waste disposal facilities, but we will still need to do a lot of manual work."

"How long will it take us to collect all the goyts?" Kaden asked, looking at each master, and then to Raven.

"Well, we can probably squeeze in twenty goyts per shuttle at best, but so far we have only found one landing place within the swamps. I can find them through the Force, but getting them to the ship is going to be a lot of work, especially as I'm the only one who can more or less persuade them to follow. It could take a few days which would mean that some of the goyts will be locked in our cargo bay for up to six days."

Flynt wrinkled his nose but otherwise remained silent. The idea of being in a ship with those smelly critters didn't exactly thrill him.

"We will simply try to do our best to be as fast as possible," Eeth said. "If we make an effort and everything goes well, we might manage in two days. If not – well, it will take as long as it takes."

He motioned for all of them to get into the shuttle. "Raven, you keep the goyts away while we take off," he said. "Lakhri, you drive. I will get into the cargo area with Kaden. Drop me off at the place where I landed the other shuttle." That left Drex and Flynt to take the back seat.

Raven did as bade, although it didn't require much of an effort since the moment their engines powered up, the goyts closest scuttled into the undergrowth. She was silent on the trip back, her expression contemplative. She had the planet of Lucia in mind as it best suited their requirements, but she had yet to make a final decision. Raven would need to do that, as well as decide on their best course of action, soon. This level of responsibility on a mission was new to her, and she did not want to mess it up.

Lakhri dropped Eeth off at the second shuttle, and then he dropped Drex and Kaden off near the main street because Drex, who seemed to be the only one besides Eeth who looked more or less presentable, had proposed to buy dinner for them. Kaden did not look quite as presentable, which Lakhri had helpfully pointed out to Drex, but he would be able to read shop signs to his master.

An hour later, they were all showered, had changed into clean clothes and assembled in the galley where a stack of hot flat pies with various toppings was waiting for them.

"Seems to be popular with locals," Drex said. "It's definitely edible for humans and Zabrak since these are among the people Kaden saw at the restaurant, so I assume it is, essentially, a variant of Corellian pizza." He did not worry about his own stomach; Hrakians could digest most anything.

"Where are we bringing the goyts, anyway?" asked Lakhri in between two bites of Barslaa's variant of pizza. "Do you have a preference, Raven?"

In response, Raven turned the datapad that she had brought to the table so that the others could see the planet she had chosen, and then she verbalised for Drex. "Lucia. It's got a diverse range of unique-looking flora and fauna." She tapped the screen and images of brightly coloured, rubber-like pitcher plants began scrolling. "When the sun shines on this planet, the environment actually glitters. I think the goyts will like that; they appear to be fascinated by anything bright and colourful. The landscape fits well also. The climate is almost identical to the one here, and it has large areas of fetid swampland. There are fungal forests, too, which I'd like to explore; the animals in that area are not found anywhere else in the galaxy."

"What about food?" asked Kaden while taking his third pie.

Raven turned the screen, tapped in a search and moments later spun it back around. "Vast," she said, that one word summing up the multitude of flora found on Lucia. "We have no way of knowing for sure if the goyts will eat these plants. We need to go off observation, and I for one believe they will eat just about anything. My left boot tends to agree with me."

"In that case, I hope they don't start eating the ship," Flynt added.

"That," said Raven, "is a likely possibility. We're going to have to keep an eye on them."

Kaden stopped eating for long enough to comment. "They can't do much damage in the cargo bay unless they somehow get into the overhead wiring."

"Yes, that would be a pain in the ass. I dare say that even the most agile of them will struggle to pull that off. Still, it's something we need to watch for," she agreed. Raven looked to the three masters and asked: "What do you think?"

None of the masters had any objections to Raven's assessment.

"That will be three days of flight time, then," said Lakhri, "after we have collected all the goyts, that is, which will take two or three days. I suggest we turn in early and – although I hate to say it – make an early start tomorrow."

"Yes, that would be reasonable," said Eeth. "Raven, you should get some rest. You have done a lot of Force work and you will need to do a lot more of it tomorrow."

"Yes, Master," Raven replied. She hadn't realised it until then, but she was a bit tired from all the Force work.

Flynt and Kaden looked at each other, but it was Flynt who spoke up. "I wanted to head into Tuppset and take a look around…" he hedged, giving his master a hopeful look.

"Me too," Kaden added, jumping on the bandwagon.

Raven perked up at that. She wouldn't mind going either. Unfortunately, whether or not Eeth would allow it given her fatigue remained a mystery. She decided to wait and see if the others got permission and go from there.

Lakhri shrugged. He had seen the town that morning; it was not a particularly big or dangerous place, especially when one was used to Coruscant, and had a number of nice places to eat and drink that were not too rowdy. Apparently, it also had a red-light district that was quite a bit shadier, but that was at the other side of town.

"I'm alright with that," he said, "as long as you stay in the main street and its side streets up to market square and are back by half past ten. And stay clear from establishments that you're underage to enter, obviously."

Drex considered Kaden's request a few seconds longer. Kaden was two years younger than Flynt; but he was raising him to be independent and self-reliant and he had seen a lot more of Coruscant than most other padawans his age. "I'll allow you to go," Drex finally told Kaden, "if Flynt consents to taking you and staying with you."

"Ten thirty and mind the brat, you got it," Flynt confirmed. He gave his master a smile that was all teeth.

Kaden too was grateful, but he did aim a glare at Flynt for referring to him as a brat. Drex had always been liberal when it came to exploration, although he generally accompanied him. "Thanks! I'll stick with Flynt," the younger boy repeated. Sticking together was not exactly difficult, and it would ultimately be more fun having someone to share the experience with.

"Master, can I go, please?" Raven hedged. "I'll mind all brats," was tacked on the end, earning her a smirk from Flynt and an eye roll from Kaden.

Eeth thought about this, but only briefly. Raven was nineteen, after all, and he was giving her some leeway where her free time was concerned. At the same time, she was clearly tired and would need her mental focus tomorrow. However, leaving her behind when the boys, who were both younger than her, were allowed to go would not exactly go over well. "You may," he conceded, "but only for as long as you are up to it. Mind your energy reserves. We will all depend on you tomorrow and you will need to be well-rested."

"Yes, Master," she replied. Raven didn't plan to stay out as long as the others. She had to be ready for tomorrow, after all.

As it turned out, Raven stayed with Flynt and Kaden for just over an hour. Then, when she had been unable to conceal her yawns, she decided to head back to the ship. She was starting to feel the strain and knew that to push it further would leave her at less than her best tomorrow. "Night, you two. Don't forget to keep up our ethnographic observations." 'Ethnographic observations' in this case was a code word for people-watching; some of the beings here were exceptionally 'colourful', or so Flynt had described them.

As ordered, Flynt kept an eye on Kaden, not letting the boy out of his sight during their evening, and had them return to the ship with five minutes to spare. Upon entering the ship, Flynt sought out Lakhri, while Kaden found Drex. Both had enjoyed the night and were looking forward to exploring more the following evening. And there was more to see, a lot more! They had come across a few establishments after Raven left that they planned to look at in more detail.

None of the masters had any complaints about their apprentices that night; they had been home in time and seemed to have behaved themselves.

"I might go out tomorrow night as well," said Lakhri. "If the goyts let us. But I won't go with Flynt. He'd just be embarrassed to have his master babysitting him."

Drex smiled. "He would," he agreed. "Are the places in this town any good, then?"

"The steak restaurant at the market square sure looked like it," replied Lakhri.

"If one person is enough to look after the goyts," Eeth said, "you can both go tomorrow night. I can mind the ship while you are gone."

"Thanks," said Lakhri. "We will be here for a few days anyway. We could switch. Or we'll bring you a steak."

Eeth gave him a small smile. "We will see how it turns out," he said.


	9. Chapter 9

The six Jedi rose early the next morning, and they were soon glad that they had because it turned out to be hard work getting the goyts into the ship. By ten in the morning, they finally had managed to get sixteen of them into the shuttle, which Eeth, Kaden and Lakhri took back to the ship. Lakhri then took the other shuttle and flew it back into the swamp while Eeth and Kaden had their hands full trying to get the goyts from the shuttle's loading area into the cargo bay.

Kaden wasn't the cursing sort of kid, at least not out loud… However, he was about to unleash a round of fucks the likes of which no one had ever heard if the goyt he was currently wrangling slipped from his grasp one more time. It was a balance between holding them firmly enough to keep them from wriggling free, and not squashing them to death in the process. Getting them from the shuttle to the ship was no easy job as they were quick, agile and, without Raven's influence, erratic!

Eeth was having a little more luck. He was able to use the Force on the goyts in a similar way he would to calm any sentient being, but his skills with animals were much more limited than Raven's. Even with his efforts to target the lead animal, the goyts seem hell-bent on making this as difficult as possible for the two Jedi.

Meanwhile, Raven was busy herding the next group together. She had blanketed the lead animal with as strong a suggestion as she could muster as this lot were proving more problematic. Unfortunately, in her effort she had accidentally sent it to sleep, leaving the others confused and, yep, there they all went. The girl sighed. "This might take longer than I thought," she told Flynt who had picked up the sleeping goyt and cradled it in his human arm.

Flynt sniffed once, then sniffed again, lifting the goyt a little closer to his nose. "Ugh! Have you smelled these things up close?"

"Yes, imagine what it's going to be like after a week in a ship?" Raven replied while busy locating the next dominant goyt. At least that part of the job was relatively easy.

By the time they'd finished for the day, Flynt and Kaden were covered in mud and stunk! Raven was, too, but far less so than the other two. She jumped from the shuttle and guided the last group in, effectively sparing Eeth and Kaden half an hour of fighting them. "Did either of you set up food and water in there?" she asked Eeth and Kaden, hoping they had because she badly wanted to be done with the goyts for today.

"Yes, of course we did," Eeth replied. "We found that they were easier to coax inside with food, too, but it was still fairly difficult. I had to stun one, unfortunately, to keep it from bolting, but it is already recovering. All in all, I have counted one hundred and twenty four. How many do you think are left, roughly?"

"You stunned it?" Raven repeated, the corner of her mouth twitching into a tiny smile as the mental picture whizzed through her mind. "About that again, I'd guess," she answered. "Their collective Force presence is almost equally divided now, half here and half scattered around the swamp in clusters." The girl squinted her eyes shut for a moment and pinched at her brow; her head was starting to ache from all the Force work.

Kaden had been impressed by Eeth's Force stun, and he wondered if it was something he could learn. The boy had felt his skin prickle with electricity, the air go static, and he had even made insects drop from the air around him with his anger before, although he assumed that was something very different from what Eeth had done.

"Padawan, take a shower and get some rest," Eeth said firmly. "All of us are tired, but you did the bulk of the work. And you will need to do more tomorrow."

Even Eeth was feeling the strain, and that was doubly the case with Drex. Lakhri was tired, too. He had to draw on the Force a lot more than people with longer legs in order to navigate the swamp, and it was draining.

"I might take over the job of looking after the goyts on the ship tomorrow," Lakhri said. "Navigating the swamp seems to be somewhat more difficult for me than for anyone else."

He said it quite casually, but Eeth knew that for Lakhri to mention such a thing, the day must have been truly hard on him. "Of course," Eeth said, equally casually. "Maybe Flynt can stay with you and help you tackle the dung problem." His face was quite straight as he said this, but to anyone who knew him well, it was clear that he was teasing Flynt.

"Grandmaster, you made a joke! Do you need to lie down?" Flynt replied cheekily.

Eeth just gave him a deadpan look in return.

Lakhri chuckled. "As if Eeth would ever acknowledge having made a joke," he said. "You must be delusional, Flynt."

"Point taken," Flynt acquiesced, and as always, he was fast to move on. "I'd still like to go out tonight. The town is interesting, and we're learning a bit about the locals in the process," the boy half asked, half stated and looked at his master with a hopeful expression.

"Me too. There is a lot more to the city than the little we got to explore last night," Kaden added.

Raven yawned, stretched and scrubbed at her eyes; she was tired but didn't want to remain behind if the others got to go. "Please?" was all she said.

"Padawan," Eeth replied solemnly, "at nineteen years, you are old enough to make that choice yourself. However, I expect you to make it a responsible choice, or the whole mission will suffer. We depend on you to be able to fulfil your duties tomorrow. I will leave it up to you to decide whether going out tonight will impair that ability significantly."

Raven practically swelled with pride at being given the freedom to choose. Eeth had left a lot up to her this mission, so, not wanting to disappoint him, she inclined her head and went to her room to brush her hair; she would go out but only for a short time.

These days, Eeth was, in fact, making a conscious effort to prepare Raven for knighthood, and that involved trusting her to take responsibility for her decisions. Needless to say, if she failed to live up to that trust, he would make sure to let her know. However, for the most part, she was mature enough to know what was expected of her and act accordingly, and he was quite proud of that.

Kaden felt a pang of jealousy at her lack of restrictions. Raven was only four years older than him, after all. He looked to Drex, wondering if the man was going to let him go or if Eeth's edict counted for all of them.

Flynt, too, was eyeing his unusually weary master with a curious expression. "Can we go, then?" he prompted. He could sense the man was tired. Negotiating the swamp would have been hard for his short-legged master, and he really didn't want to add to his stress.

Lakhri gave a tired nod. "Take a shower and get changed first, though," he said. "And be back by ten thirty, like yesterday. We have another long day coming up."

"You may go as well," Drex told Kaden. "What Lakhri said to Flynt goes for you, too."

All three apprentices did as bade and emerged some fifteen minutes later. Flynt had towelled off his hair. It was longer than the standard spiky padawan's cut that Kaden sported, but he liked to be a bit of an individual. Raven emerged five minutes later, her hair pulled into a tidy ponytail and clothing neat.

"Sheez, take your time much?" Flynt teased as she joined them. Finally!

"Oh quit your whining," Raven shot back, equally playfully, and led the pair out the hatch. "Back soon," she called to Eeth over her shoulder, letting him know that she was leaving. Of course he could tell that for himself, but it was somewhat of a habit.

The three bantered as they walked around the main areas of Tuppset, although they kept a low profile; none of them wanted to draw attention to themselves as it was far easier to observe when you weren't being observed yourself. Raven noticed that the closer to the south side they got, the seedier the establishments became. Now they were beginning to see clubs that hosted prostitutes down the side alleyways, and bars that spilled out into the streets. "Charming," she commented.

Flynt gave her his patent thousand watt smile. "Hey, don't knock seedy, it can be entertaining."

"Coruscant's got enough seedy to last us all a lifetime," added Kaden.

"And how would you know that at just fifteen years old?" Flynt asked, honestly curious as it was not exactly typical for junior padawans to be taken around Coruscant all that often, let alone to the seedier places.

Kaden shrugged. "Drex has been taking me since I first became his apprentice. He says it's important that I know how the city operates, what sort of people occupy it and how to be independent."

It was at that moment Raven pointed to a small corner table that was part of a large eatery. "Let's park here. Any further and we'll be in the midst of the red-light district, and I'd rather not explain why we ended up there," she told them. Here was interesting enough, though. There were a lot of drunk club-goers around the place buying food which would no doubt provide a little entertainment.

Flynt and Kaden looked a little perturbed at having to cut their exploration short, but neither bothered to argue.

They sat there for half an hour or so before moving along. The next place had an outdoor cinema of sorts and was screening what must pass as their version of a romantic comedy. They were sipping a fruit cocktail each and enjoying the nightlife. Flynt had suggested purchasing something with a little more punch, and Kaden had hinted at checking out the clubs, but both suggestions were met with a curt: "No!" from Raven.

"I'll see you both tomorrow," Raven announced when the movie they had caught the tail end of finished, and another began to play.

"It's only nine o'clock, are you really that tired?" Flynt questioned. He was enjoying their group dynamic and if Raven left, it would change that. Not in a bad way, but still.

"Yes. All the Force work is kicking my ass," the teen confessed, and sure enough, dark circles had begun to appear beneath her eyes.

"Lakhri's feeling the strain, too," Flynt commented.

Kaden nodded in agreement. "Short legs. It must be like a marathon each day for him."

"It sure is. He must be truly feeling it if he decided to stay behind tonight." Flynt turned to his Jedi aunt as she pulled on her cloak. "We'll walk you back," he announced, getting to his feet and gesturing that Kade follow.

Despite her fatigue, Raven actually cracked a smile at that. She put a hand on his shoulder and told him not to waste the short time they had on walking her back; she was more than capable, after all. "Just don't leave Kaden alone or Drex will kick your ass," she warned, and after hugging them both, headed back to their ship for the night.

"Let's move on, I want to find out what all the flashing lights are in aid of," Kaden suggested.

Flynt didn't mind. In fact, he was curious himself and so the pair headed further along into the red-light district. They were mindful to stick to the main road, though, as they had been told not to enter establishments that they were not old enough to enter. Well, apparently they were old enough to enter all of these places, fifteen being the legal drinking age in the Hoamant region on Barslaa. Both boys looked at each other. 'Would it hurt to peek?' Kaden's expression asked while Flynt's was more guarded. No, it wouldn't hurt to peek, at least not unless they got caught, and then it would probably start hurting.

Meanwhile, Raven was making her way back to the ship. She stopped briefly to pick up a rare kind of tea that she thought Eeth and Drex might like and arrived at the ship some twenty minutes later. "Master," she greeted Eeth upon entering the dining area and finding him seated at the round table with Lakhri. "Hey, Lakhri, I'm surprised you're still up. Did Flynt short-sheet your bed?" she joked. The teen yawned and covered it with the back of her hand.

"Actually, I had some dinner and was thinking of going out for a drink," Lakhri replied. "Drex said he'd join me after he's done looking after the goyts. We're both tired, but it's too early for us to go to sleep."

"Not for you, though, padawan," Eeth said. "You look as if you need it." As a matter of fact, he was glad that Raven had been responsible enough to return on her own as early as she had. Her fatigue was almost tangible.

Raven didn't bother arguing that, as her fatigue would have stuck out like bantha balls to Eeth.

At this point, Drex entered the galley, and he and Lakhri left. They weren't intending to go out for long, but being free from the smell of goyt shit for half an hour or so seemed quite an appealing prospect to them.

"Tomorrow night, we'll have to let Eeth go," Lakhri told Drex as they made their way down the main street. "It must be a Saturday night or something. A lot more going on than last night." There were crowds of drunk people around, even youths. Apparently, the legal drinking age was fifteen for the local type of ale, but it was eighteen for hard stuff, and that was only served in some places in the darker side streets. From the look of some of the people around, though, either it was fairly easy to get drunk on local ale, or hard stuff was being served to people who looked a lot younger than eighteen.

Lakhri proposed a rather decent-looking place to Drex, a café that served small snacks. And Lakhri could always do with a snack.

Flynt and Kaden stuck their heads inside the club they'd picked out but deemed it too smoky to bother exploring further. Force, their eyes were practically streaming by the time they were back out in the fresh air! They moved further along the road until they came across a signpost that signalled the entrance to the red-light district. Again, the two exchanged a look. They weren't meant to leave the main street, they knew that, but there was so much going on. People were less reserved, more scantily clad and there was a place barely twenty meters outside their boundary… Kaden's attention was immediately drawn to the dancing girls; they were slender and graceful and, wow, so beautiful. He just wanted to take a look, not touch, or so he told Flynt. Of course, he wouldn't go in alone; he was told to stay with Flynt and so the boy would. However, he did deem this little bending of the rules worth the limited risk of being caught out.

Unlike Kaden, Flynt wasn't so sure about this. Lakhri might be easy-going, but if he found out they'd left the main street and gone in here, he was going to be in more shit than their cargo bay currently hosted. "Alright, but just for a look, and only for half an hour," he finally consented, taking the lead.

The two entered the club and found a table that was well out of the way where they could sit, unhindered, and observe. The girls here were classy, not dirty, and they didn't smell of alcohol or wear blank, drug-induced expressions. They were cheerful and seemed to enjoy the job. When a particularly leggy redheaded woman approached them, clad in nothing but a g-string and carrying a serving tray, Kaden's mouth almost dropped open.

"This club is no minors unless accompanied by an adult," she informed them, a coy smile on her pretty face.

"I'm eighteen," Flynt lied smoothly. "I'll have an afterburner, and my cousin here will have a soda on the rocks," he ordered. His confidence assured the woman because most of the underaged patrons that tried getting in here looked guilty. Conversely, this teenager looked as if he was here every night of the week. Flynt was a master bullshit artist, something Kaden agreed with when the woman bought them their drinks and left.

"You going to drink that?" Kaden asked. The drink his fellow apprentice had ordered was decidedly alcoholic.

"Nah, I just needed it to play the part," Flynt explained and gestured that Kaden drink up. He wasn't exactly thrilled about being in here, although he had to admit that the 'scenery' was indeed worth a look.

Unfortunately, the woman noticed that he wasn't drinking and started watching them. So, every now and then when she would glance over, Flynt would take a sip, just a sip, nothing that would affect him.

"Hey, go easy on that stuff," Kaden warned upon noticing that his Jedi peer had almost finished his glass. "You know I once drank X'Atlix. If that wasn't enough to kill me, when Drex found out he almost did. You want to hope Lakhri doesn't smell that on you. And stay well away from Drex; he'll smell it from the ship, goyt shit or no goyt shit."

"Not to worry I got that covered," Flynt said, producing a small packet from his pocket. "Super strength mints," he said through a grin. "But yeah, enough is enough, I think we've pushed it far enough for one evening."

Kaden agreed and finished off his soda. "Where to? We've still got just under an hour."

"There is a pyrotechnic display starting in the centre square in ten minutes," Flynt replied, tapping the flyer with his finger and getting to his feet. He tossed a five credit bill on the table which would be enough to cover their drinks and leave a respectable tip.

"Pyrotechnic? That's right, Raven was telling me you've got some ability with fire. What do you do with it, anyway?"

"When I was younger, not much other than wreak havoc in crèche and maim myself," Flynt admitted. His mechanical arm was concealed under his robes; it was something he was still getting used to himself. "I found it very easy to conjure fire. It fascinated me. Sometimes I would just think of fire, and it would appear in my hand, but my control was lacking. Lakhri helped me a lot there, and I'm at a point now where I have adequate control to contain it, channel it and make it do what I want."

"You'll have to show me that sometime,"Kaden said. And he was honestly curious. He'd never heard of anyone with that gift, at least not past the general control all Jedi had over the elements.

In the meantime, Eeth had his hands full with the goyts. They had dimmed the lights and cushioned part of the cargo bay with some type of artificial straw for the goyts to sleep on, which had the huge advantage that it could be rinsed. Unfortunately, the goyts, possibly because of the strange environment, were restless. Eeth kept refilling the water troughs, saving the cleaning droids from being trampled upon, and generally trying to bring order into the chaos. Finally, around ten, more and more goyts were falling asleep and things were getting calmer.

Lakhri and Drex were having a decidedly more relaxed evening, relishing a hot spicy drink. Lakhri was also eating a local type of small sugary dough balls and describing the scenes in the street to Drex who was listening to them and sensing much of the rest of what went on through the Force. All in all, they were quite enjoying themselves; it was a good way to wind down after what had been a rather exhausting day.

Neither Flynt nor Kaden had detected that their masters had left the ship, let alone that they were in Tuppset. They left the club and made their way towards the pyrotechnic display. "Two minutes to spare," Flynt said casually, having gotten them both great seats right up the front to view the show.

Kaden agreed. He was enjoying this although, as was typical for the kid, not really showing it. He was, however, still curious and not at all placated regarding Flynt's gift. "Your fire thing, you can make objects combust?"

Flynt had to smirk at that. "Something like that. Good reason not to piss me off."

"You want scary, piss me off enough and see what happens to you," the boy replied dryly. It wasn't something he was proud of, although it came across that way to Flynt.

Flynt held up his hands in a placating gesture. He wasn't about to get into a pissing contest with the kid. "Probably, although I assume you have that under control more often than not."

"Course. I rarely lose it these days. Drex has helped with that..."

Ten minutes passed wherein there had been some delay with the fireworks show, leaving everyone waiting.

"So, I'm curious about this fire thing." Kaden pointed towards a man who was crouched down and struggling to ignite his device. He was flicking at it but only a shower of sparks sprayed towards the fuse; It was not going to be enough. "For instance, could you?"

Again Flynt smirked. Without hesitation, he reached out with the Force and a second later, the man's device lit up in a tiny controlled flame. "Yeah."

Kaden was surprised to see the small flame ignite and, as the rest of the crowd did, he looked skyward to see a fiery bloom of colour explode above them.

Over the next fifteen minutes, this became somewhat of a challenge for the two. Flynt would wait until the last second before a fuse was lit, then light the device himself, causing all sorts of bewildered reactions from the pyrotechnicians who didn't know what was going on. It was harmless fun, Flynt knew. What he didn't realise, was that the alcohol he'd consumed earlier was eventually going to maturate in his system and throw off his Force ability…

He reached out to light a fuse as he had done ten times already, only this time his flame was uncontrolled, and it burst from the fuse vertically. A wall of fire launched about five meters into the air causing the pyrotechnician to jump back to avoid having his eyebrows blown clean off.

"Fuck!" Flynt said under his breath, immediately reaching out to withdraw oxygen from his flame as Lakhri had taught him. He stood up to check that the man was uninjured.

"He's okay," Kaden supplied, having gotten to his feet at the same time. He'd felt the huge surge of Force energy and was shocked that Flynt's ability was so potent. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Flynt answered honestly and rubbed at his forehead. "Could be the alcohol… Lakhri once told me that it can affect one's ability to wield the Force, especially so in the young. I – well, I didn't think that small amount would affect me; I'm seventeen, not six!"

"No harm no foul, right?" Kaden tried, but it fell flat upon seeing and sensing the teen's apprehension. "I won't tattle," he said resolutely.

Had that not been so irrelevant, Flynt might have chuckled. As it was, he met the younger boy with a pained expression. "I know you wouldn't. Lakhri can sense when I'm uncontrolled, just as Drex can with you. I'd be shocked if I am not questioned over this. Unless maybe he's asleep. I don't want to check!" It was true, Lakhri had been able to sense Flynt with glaring clarity from their very first meeting, so much so that Lakhri had noticed him lighting fires from across the Temple. Had the memory not caused a flinch, the boy would have smiled. As it was, however, he took Kaden by the arm and started leading him out of the crowd. If his Force awareness was inhibited, he could not properly look after Kaden. They needed to get back to the ship.

Kaden shook himself free from the slightly older boy's grasp although continued to follow him. "Where's the fire?" he asked, knowing full well that this was probably a poor choice in wording…

"I'll light one on your ass if you don't stay by my side and keep up," Flynt told the boy, not unkindly and with a hint of humour in his tone.

This comment earned a snort from Kaden, although after recent events, he wasn't as quick to believe that this could never happen.

Lakhri and Drex had just paid for their drinks and were walking out the door, intending to return to the ship, when Lakhri suddenly sensed a surge of Force energy from Flynt that felt rather uncontrolled. It would have to be; normally, Flynt's shields were good enough to keep Lakhri from sensing every single thing he was doing, despite the fact that Lakhri's Force awareness was extremely high.

He stiffened. "I'm sorry, Drex," he said, "but my padawan just did… something. I have to check. He's not far. Do you want to go ahead or are you coming?"

"I'm coming," said Drex. It was not that he would have had trouble finding his way back to the ship; his sense of direction was good and the Force mostly replaced his eyesight. But Kaden was with Flynt, and if Lakhri thought he had to check, Drex considered it better to be on the safe side and check as well.

Flynt and Kaden were just rounding the final bend before leaving the main street when Flynt pulled up short, causing Kaden to reach for his lightsaber. Was there some danger that he hadn't sensed? A moment later it was clear to him what was going on; there was danger alright, just not the sort they'd need lightsabers to fight off…

"Flynt," Lakhri said, stepping into his padawan's path. "What happened?" His tone of voice was neutral. So far, he had no cause to suspect that his padawan had done anything he had not been supposed to do. However, for Flynt to lose control like this was extremely rare these days, and Lakhri really wanted to know the reason why…


	10. Chapter 10

"… It's complicated," Flynt said to the dwarf Jedi who was standing in front of him, giving him a penetrating look – and that really required some effort these days, given the difference in height. Flynt glanced at Drex who was managing to avoid people despite the crowd, and then he looked back down at his master hoping that his response was good enough for now.

"Yes, I'm sure it is," Lakhri said rather cuttingly. "I'm equally sure you're able to sum up the basics for me. I sensed you lose control of your ability which hasn't happened in years. Please forgive me for wondering what made you lose control and what made you light a fire in the first place."

"Forgiven," the teen said, offering a slight bow, although one look at the man had him coughing to clear his throat and becoming immediately serious. "I was lighting the fuses on pyrotechnics to show Kaden. I must have lost control." This probably wouldn't cut it; Flynt had not lost control that spectacularly since his first year as an apprentice.

"Can't we talk about this back at the ship?" Kaden interjected before Lakhri could reply. Two reasons: firstly because he wanted to buy Flynt some time to think, and secondly because he didn't want to stand around in the middle of the street talking about this.

"Not before I at least know the basics of what happened," Lakhri said grimly. "And I still don't have them. If Flynt was more forthcoming about this, we wouldn't need to keep standing here, which really makes me think he just might have reason to feel guilty about something. So, Flynt: what made you lose control, in what way did you lose it, and have you been able to contain it or will we need to intervene? I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer all these questions in one go. I don't want to have to drag it out of you."

"No need to intervene, I dealt with it," Flynt answered quickly, thinking this was the most pertinent question to answer. He could tell by the look on the man's face that he wasn't going to get out of this, though; he was busted. Steeling himself, he met his master's eye and answered: "I overlit one of the pyrotechnicians' lighters, and some of my flame was uncontrolled. Nobody was hurt. I lost control because I had consumed a small amount of alcohol earlier." It was a short, choppy explanation, but truthful all the same.

Meanwhile, Kaden moved to stand by his master's side and remained silent. He wasn't entering into this if it was at all possible.

"Thank you so much for that explanation," Lakhri said curtly. "Yes, I think we'd better take this to the ship, then." The look he shot at Flynt conveyed quite clearly that Lakhri was pissed. Flynt had no permission whatsoever to drink alcohol, and moreover, Lakhri had repeatedly explained to him that there was no way of knowing how even a small amount might influence his control of the Force. At the very least, he should have asked for permission; and he certainly had no call to light fires while in this state! During a rather demanding mission, no less, which was probably the part that Lakhri was most furious about right now, besides the obvious danger that Flynt's loss of control had posed.

The curt reply left Flynt feeling dry-mouthed, and he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. He had not felt his master this incensed with him in a very long time, and that worried him.

"And you, Kaden?" Drex asked while making an about-turn and starting to walk towards the ship. "Did you drink alcohol as well?"

Kaden had been hoping for a silent walk to the ship, then bed with no questions asked. Yeah, right… "No," he replied honestly. Since having consumed X'Atlix and being made to endure the after effects (however mild, as Drex had forced him to vomit most of the toxin), Kaden was permanently cured of his curiosity when it came to alcohol. Never again!

"Good," said Drex noncommittally. "Nevertheless, I would prefer us to discuss this together until we have the full story. I want to know for certain how blameless, or otherwise, you are."

"Sure," said Lakhri a tad wearily. He had been rather looking forward to his bed, but it seemed as if he had to postpone his immediate desires.

When they reached the ship, Eeth was nowhere to be seen; he might be looking after the goyts or in his cabin. Lakhri took a seat at the large table and motioned for everyone else to get seated, too. "Alright, I would like a full account," he said. "Who did what when. In detail."

including," Drex added, "your actions, Kaden."

Kaden looked to Flynt, his silent question clear in his eyes; who was doing the talking here?

Flynt returned Kaden's look with a knowing expression of his own. He was the oldest. Therefore, he would be the one to report. "It's not as bad as you might think." As he said that, he kinda wished that he hadn't. "We went into the red light district to check out a club that looked interesting. In order to allow Kaden to stay I had to convince them that I was eighteen, so… I ordered a drink. I wasn't planning to drink it, and I wouldn't have if our bartender had not been giving us the stink eye; it was only meant for show…" He went on to explain how they had not stayed too long, and then they'd moved on to the pyrotechnics display. "It was a simple fuse, something I could usually do without a second thought. But the alcohol must have, well, you know… When I realised that my Force awareness was off, I grabbed Kade, and we split."

"And that's when we ran into you two," Kaden added, hoping that his contribution was going to be enough to keep him out of the spotlight here.

"So," Drex said, quite calmly, but also quite obviously not pleased, "you went into the red-light district, where you had no business going, and into a club that neither of you were old enough to enter. And you probably thought it wouldn't be a problem because we were unlikely to ever find out, right?" His face was pointed in Kaden's direction while he said that, indicating that he expected his padawan to give an answer.

Lakhri, in the meantime, was drumming his fingers on the table, his eyes shooting daggers at Flynt.

"Yes," Kaden replied, trying to ignore the look Lakhri was giving Flynt. "I just wanted to look, though, I wasn't planning on doing anything else. It's not like I drank, smoked death sticks or used a prostitute," Kaden attempted to defend himself, then realised that stating this was probably only going to highlight Flynt's troubles. The boy shot his Jedi peer a horrified glance, which was saying something for him. Fuck. He hadn't meant to frame the fact that Flynt had consumed alcohol, especially given the only reason he'd done so was to allow him to remain in the club. Not sure what to do, Kaden looked to his master and admitted: "I asked Flynt to take me into the club, it was my idea. I wanted to see the… Uh," the boy flushed pink. "The dancing girls."

Flynt dragged a hand down his face. Kaden's faux pas notwithstanding, Lakhri looked positively pissed, his drumming fingers on the table causing the teenager to become uncharacteristically nervous. He had yet to confess to what extent his fire had gone uncontrolled, but was planning to do so, he just needed a chance to work up his courage. Yeah…. He looked over at his master, only managing to meet the man's adam's apple this time, and focused on his drumming fingers.

"Alright, so you drank alcohol so Kaden could see the dancing girls," Lakhri said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Apparently not enough to get drunk, but enough to impair your ability to control the fires you lit for no particularly good reason. To what extent, exactly, did you lose control? Did you miss the fuse? Lay fire to the market square? Or what?"

"Not quite, and I dare say you'd have noticed had I done the latter." Flynt bolstered his courage, took a breath and let it out. "I can't explain how it happened, it has not happened since I was a youngling. I lost control of the fire." He looked into the man's eyes. "It shot straight up, quite a distance. It was lucky the man was not injured. He wasn't. No harm done."

"He might have been injured, but 'no harm done'?" Lakhri shot back. "I can't believe you." He ran a hand through his curls. "Great. Just great," he muttered. "Apart from everything else, you might have shown some freakin' plain common sense."

The look on Flynt's face was all-telling. A lack of common sense was something he had not been scolded over in quite some time. He remained silent, as did Kaden.

Lakhri sighed in resignation. "Drex, have you heard everything you need to know?" he asked the older Jedi master. "Because if you have, I'd rather take this to our cabin."

"Yes, go ahead," said Drex. "We're going to withdraw to ours as well. Come on, Kaden."

He led the way to their cabin, headed for the closet and, from beneath a stack of clothes, retrieved the paddle that Eeth had given him. Turning around, he pulled out the chair and sat down. It seemed as if he was doing this rather a lot lately, he realised. But this time, he did not really see what else to do. "I don't think we need to discuss why you're going to be punished," he said calmly. "Or do we?"

"What the–?" Kade spluttered as he turned from their door to see Drex pulling a paddle from beneath a stack of clothing. He recognised it as Eeth's, and his eyes widened even more. "Master, why?" he practically squeaked, his tone sounding desperate; sure, it wasn't as bad as that bat Drex tried passing off as a hairbrush, but well, hell, he was pretty sure that was Eeth's and knew it hurt.

"Why?" asked Drex. "Because I'm no longer physically able to provide you with the correction you occasionally deserve. I realised that quite plainly the last time I gave you a handspanking. I thought you might prefer this paddle to the hairbrush. And the only thing that saves you from that one is the fact that you at least had the sense not to drink alcohol yourself. Now bare your bottom and get over my lap."

All Drex had wanted when he had left the café with Lakhri was to go to bed and get some sleep, and that was still basically true. Thus, he did not feel particularly patient with Kaden right now. He had been plain disobedient, there was no excuse for that, and he was going to be punished, preferably without stalling. It was as simple as that.

Kaden blinked. He stood there, stunned, for the longest of moments. He wasn't sure what to make of this. Thankfully, for both Drex's wish to get some sleep and Kaden's ass, his fingers started working to remove his belt. It was an unconscious effort, that was for sure. A moment later, he found himself standing before the man, undershorts and trousers at his knees. As it usually did, it took Kaden a moment to work up the courage to put himself across his master's lap; he truly hated this position, it made him feel like a child having to do it! "I hate this," he grunted while wriggling around to angle himself so that his ass was where Drex could easily smack it. Intrinsically, he knew why this position was required. Still, he wondered what was going to happen when he was much older. Would Drex put him over his knee when he was full grown? The mental picture sent the kid into a spin, so he squinted his eyes shut and tried to think about something else.

Drex had generally preferred to take his padawans over his knees when spanking them because that position made it easiest for him to hit the target despite not being able to see it. Nevertheless, when they had grown up, he had allowed them to assume less awkward positions, such as bent over a table, in the rare instances in which they still required correction. Whether he followed that policy in Kaden's case would depend on whether the boy managed to lose his pridefulness. There was no place in a Jedi's life for pride, and for as long as Kaden stubbornly clung to it, Drex would make him go over his knee in order to drive that point home.

Right now, he lost no time in bringing the paddle down with quite some force. He might not be using the hairbrush, but still, Kaden's transgression had not been a light one and Drex wanted to make that clear. "Padawan, I trusted you to go into the city without supervision," he said and swung the paddle again. "You exploited that trust." A third swat came down, this time onto Kaden' sit spot. "You disobeyed me on several counts and brought Flynt into a situation where he felt he had to drink." Two swats to the part where Kaden's bottom met his thighs underlined his displeasure with that fact. "I don't want to witness such behaviour again. None of it," he concluded his lecture and then focussed on paddling Kaden's bottom soundly, with lighter swats than before but at a rapid pace.

Prideful was the last thing Kaden felt at the moment. It was impossible to feel anything other than shame, self-pity, pain and humiliation from being in this position, more so when he was forced to place himself there willingly. He hated it. The first smack might have taken him by surprise had he not felt this paddle before. As it was, he clenched up his ass cheeks, squared his jaw and prayed to any deity willing to take pity on him that Drex was not going to have a swing like Eeth.

"Ah!" He hissed. Yep, so much for divine intervention; that had fucking hurt! Unsurprisingly, so did the next couple, the two landing on his undercurve garnering a hiss that morphed into a yelp. The lecture, too, hurt the boy; he hadn't meant to exploit his master's trust, but he guessed that this was exactly what disobeying him boiled down to. He had just wanted to see. 'What harm could that possibly do?' He thought piteously as another few smacks had him kicking out of reflex. Of course, he knew that this wasn't the point. Still! "OWch!' he hissed through gritted teeth. Kaden had been with Drex long enough to know that he didn't want to hear apologies now, especially so as it was clear that he had been hoping to get away with it and had the two masters not caught them out, he would not have confessed.

The "I was hoping not to get caught" explanation never did much to impress Drex, but since it was behind most instances of misbehaviour, he saw no need to go into this. Kaden knew perfectly well that it was not winning him any favours. Nor did his pleas have any impact on the speed or force of the smacks that Drex dealt out. Wielding a paddle made it considerably easier for him to achieve the effect he was aiming at, which was for Kaden to have an experience he would not want to repeat. The effect, unsurprisingly, seemed to particularly strong when Kaden's upper thighs were targeted, even at moderate force, and since Drex really did not want this to last all night, that was where he aimed a good part of the swats at.

"Ow! Oww! OWw! OUCH! Stop-please! Ah!" the boy yelped with each smack. His thighs were sensitive and being paddled there for more than a few swats was enough to animate him. He yelled, begged and when neither seemed to sway the man into letting him up, he dropped his head – subsequently, most of his weight landed on Drex's lap – and started to cry. "Owahhh!" he cried, but it was more like one continuous wail now as his legs kicked and toes drummed on the floor.

When Kaden had reached this point, Drex dealt out another dozen swats to the centre of the boy's bottom in order to drive the lesson home. Only when that was done did he lay the paddle aside. "Up you get," he said, not unkindly. He was not angry with Kaden. Nearly all padawans got into this type of trouble at some point; there was no malice in it, but it still had to be discouraged. And Drex hoped to have achieved that purpose.

Those words were like music to his ears. Kaden awkwardly clambered off the man's lap and immediately started trying to rub out the sting. Unlike that dreaded brush, this paddle didn't leave him with deep muscular pain. It was mostly an uncomfortable burn and horrible stinging that continued to increase even after the fact. He hopped around a bit, glad that his master was blind and couldn't see his childish antics. "Ow," he complained morosely, eyeing the paddle sitting on the desk with a look of complete disfavour. It briefly crossed his mind to be rid of the thing, and then he recalled what had happened the last time he had such a bright idea. Yeah… Drex now owned a tawse and a paddle with a bunch of holes drilled in it, and both hurt like a bastard. No, meddling with the man's implements was not an option. Cowed, he pulled up his undershorts with a hiss, picked up his trousers and placed them over the end of his bunk.

"Padawan, dancing girls are no reason to disobey your instructions," Drex said solemnly. "I hope I made that clear. If I didn't, and if anything remotely like this happens again, we will be having this conversation with my hairbrush. If it happens during a mission, my belt will provide some additional emphasis. So consider yourself warned. And now get ready for bed, please."

The look on Kaden's face went from embarrassed and ashamed at having disobeyed his master over a couple of dancing girls, to sombre at hearing his threat. Kaden wasn't sure which was worse, the belt or that Force-awful hairbrush! Although the mere mention of either had the boy immediately straighten up, regardless of the situation. Still sniffling, he dragged himself into their private refresher and got himself ready for bed as instructed.

Five minutes later he emerged, teeth brushed, hair combed and clad in a thin pair of sleep pants. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you." He paused, then moved to go to his bed only to hesitate once again; Kaden wanted comfort but found it difficult to seek it out. The boy settled on sitting next to Drex and leant into his side. Girls were going to be a weak point for him, they always had been…

Drex recognised Kaden's need and pulled him into a hug. "Apology accepted," he said gently. "Come on, let's meditate and then get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another long day."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hi all. We're about halfway through our story, phew! It's a long one. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their reviews and feedback, and to welcome any newcomers. We hope that you're all enjoying the story so far. Kaden is entering a difficult period of his apprenticeship, which will begin playing out more in the coming chapters so there will be more corporal punishment coming up, but there will also be lots of character interaction and development. Please keep the reviews coming, we do love to hear what you guys think.

* * *

While Kaden was busy feeling sorry for himself, Flynt had problems of his own. Lakhri was more annoyed with his decisions than he had been in a very long time which didn't bode well for him.

"I allow you to go out on your own," Lakhri snapped as soon as their door had closed behind them, "and you don't make it two nights without breaking the entirely reasonable rules Drex and I set for you. What's gotten into you? Will you need a nanny next to make sure you stay in the right street and don't set fire to anything?"

"Hardly," replied Flynt, attempting to maintain his composure. "It was an error in judgement, is all," he replied coolly. He was trying to appear casual although, truth be told, he felt far from it.

Lakhri did not appreciate Flynt's effort to play it cool, and it showed. "An error in judgment," he repeated flatly, his annoyance with Flynt having reached a stage where he had gone from sarcasm and snapping to deadly calm. "That's what you think gross disobedience amounts to, do you? No reason for an apology? Well, the only thing that might pass as an error in judgment is your behaviour over this incident, which leaves a lot to be desired. And I'll address this first. Bare your bottom and bend over the chair."

Lakhri started to unbuckle his belt, the expression on his face grim. If Flynt had any sense of self-preservation, he had better do as he was told, immediately, said that expression. Lakhri might be the most easy-going of the masters on the ship but he was also the most unyielding when it came to the kind of attitude he expected a padawan to display after having been caught out in misbehaviour. Flynt knew this and it had been a long time since they had last had this kind of run-in. Apparently, he needed a reminder.

Lakhri's shift from flippant to calm caused the teen to still, and the order that preceded it had his cavalier demeanour evaporating into caution; he had not earned physical punishment in months, and he wasn't keen to break that streak. His insides froze at seeing the man unbuckle his belt. Wait, this wasn't going as he had hoped! He turned his ass away. However, if there was one thing he had learned about his master, it was that arguing punishment was to be avoided at all costs. Thus, and despite his horror, the teen pulled off his belt, whipped down his trousers and bent over the chair without protest. He grabbed the chair legs in a death grip and added: "I'm sorry." Flynt knew that stalling or, Force help him, trying to talk himself out of this would end in a far worse punishment; it was something that Raven could attest to and had warned him off doing very early on.

"No, you're not," Lakhri said curtly. "You're merely sorry to be in this position. And just to be clear: This is not your punishment for your disobedience, drinking alcohol and trying to light fires in that state. This is only for your attitude. We'll get to the rest later." While he had talked, he had doubled the belt over in his hand, and he now brought it down onto Flynt's bottom with a determination that made up for the shortness of his arms.

Okay, okay, so maybe Flynt wasn't entirely sorry over the right things here, but that didn't mean he wasn't sorry at all! He panicked; he had never taken punishment well. "Wait, what!? No, I am sorry, I mean it!" Flynt turned back to look at the man just in time to catch his arm raise. "Ahh! Fuc-nnngus!" he protested, barely catching the expletive and rising up on his toes as the pain bloomed across his ass. As a rule, Lakhri was fairly lenient when it came to his language. As long as it was situationally appropriate, he wouldn't get more than a raised brow should he drop the occasional F-bomb. Right now, while the man had his belt in his hand, he didn't think it was wise. "What do you mean, for my attitude? I apologised!" Flynt didn't want another smack like that last one, and the look on his face matched the desperate tone of his voice. Unlike Kaden who tried to tough out punishment, Flynt had never seen the point; if his master was belting him, it was supposed to hurt! He bounced around on his toes, hoping that his question would cause the man to pause long enough for the line of searing pain to ebb a little.

Lakhri knew exactly what Flynt was hoping for and he saw no point in indulging him. Without answering, he swung the belt again, and again, with just a couple of seconds' pause between them, until a dozen stripes were painted across Flynt's bottom. He had his reasons for doing this. Flynt had a tendency to downplay what he had done and look for excuses. While that might be understandable, it was also unacceptable, especially when the misbehaviour in question had actually been dangerous. Lakhri remembered an incident where, in the "Tree World" park on Coruscant, Flynt had climbed a trail he had explicitly been forbidden from climbing. His grip had slipped and he might have been seriously hurt, had Raven not stayed his fall and Eeth come to both padawans' rescue. Lakhri had been so put out by Flynt's persistent attempts to justify his actions that he had actually borrowed Eeth's cane and used it on Flynt's bottom before they had even been able to start having a reasonable conversation about the incident. Flynt seemed to have reverted back to bad habits that Lakhri had thought he had permanently cured him of, and that just would not do.

When Lakhri had completed the dozen, he said: "Don't get up just yet. You said you're sorry. Very well. Tell me what it is that you're sorry for."

Flynt wailed loudly as each lick of the belt connected with his ass, the last couple elicited something that was decidedly more roar-like. "Oww!" he complained when the man stopped. He wasn't crying but neither was he far off it. He made to stand up only to stop at the instructions. "Master, please…" His ass was killing him. It burned, stung and ached all at the same time. "I'm sorry for disobeying orders. For drinking alcohol." He paused knowing what the man wanted to hear from him. "And for my attitude."

"I don't want a generic answer, I want specifics," Lakhri said mercilessly. "What was it, exactly, that you did that was wrong, and why was it wrong?"

Flynt shifted around, trying to arrange himself over the chair back so he was more comfortable. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen; the position was uncomfortable by design. So, he was having this conversation with his bare ass waving around in the breeze. He frowned at having to state this but could see no way around it. "What do you want me to say? That, despite orders to the contrary, I left the main street with Kaden, drank alcohol, then lost control trying to light a fuse? I had no idea that one drink was going to affect me like that. I didn't do it on purpose." The more he spoke, the worse he started to feel about his answer. "I'm seventeen years old, is all… I could have been less casual about it when you called me on it, too." The latter was added on quickly, he really didn't want another round with the belt.

"True," Lakhri said grimly. "What, pray tell, does your age have to do with this?"

Flynt twisted at the waist, attempting to meet the man's gaze without moving from his position over the chair. "At seventeen years old you'd think I could handle an afterburner. Sure, it's a strong drink, but I'm not exactly made of glass here. I didn't think it was going to affect my ability to use the Force so much, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. As soon as I realised, I dragged Kaden out of there to get back to the ship." The latter was added in the hopes of earning himself some points for at least showing good sense in that area of this evening's epic clusterfuck.

"Yes, that all sounds very nice when you put it like that," Lakhri said coolly. "You forget to mention, though, that I have told you any number of times, in no uncertain terms, that alcohol impairs your Force awareness, regardless of age. And we're on a mission, not at the Temple. A mission where you might need to draw on the Force at any time and where we absolutely cannot afford any lapses. At the very least, you might have asked for permission which you knew perfectly well you would not have received. I'm just wondering what you would be telling me if someone had been hurt by your little lapse. And that was a very real possibility. You, padawan, are not taking this nearly seriously enough and that's why we're having this conversation."

And since Lakhri still happened to think his padawan ought to show a lot more contrition than he had been doing so far, he continued the conversation by raising the belt again and starting a second round of heavy-handed strokes.

Flynt sensed his arm raise again and panicked. He started talking. "I am TAKING it, Oww! Seriously! OWW!" The teen arched his back, clenched his ass and rose onto his toes with each lick. Given this was round two, his pain sensors were already heightened and it really, really fucking hurt. It also did not help that Flynt had never taken punishment well; he hated the pain and almost worse was the fact that he'd done something bad enough that Lakhri thought he needed this to learn.

Lakhri did not enjoy punishing Flynt at all. However, he was certain that it was necessary. If he kept up the flippant attitude about his mistakes, he was not going to learn from them and was going to pose a risk to himself and others during missions. Therefore, Lakhri dealt out a full second dozen strokes, and he made each one of them count. Then, he laid the belt aside and said rather brusquely: "Get up, padawan."

Midway through the second twelve, Flynt started crying. This hurt. It was meant to hurt! He wasn't a sobbing wreck, but by the time Lakhri was done with him, his face was tear-streaked, his eyes were red, and his nose was running. He stood stiffly when bade, turned, and rubbed both hands over his backside. Force did it hurt.

"Alright, that was for your attitude," said Lakhri. "If I hear one more word about how this was not such a big deal and how you thought you were old enough and it wouldn't matter, you are going to go right back over that chair. Is that clear?"

"Yes, master. Clear," Flynt replied subduedly. But other than that, and the occasional sniffle, he remained silent. He wasn't feeling at all good about this.

"Well, that's something," said Lakhri, rather wearily. "As for your actual punishment for your disobedience and for drinking alcohol when you knew full well you had no permission to do so, I'm not even going to start dealing with that tonight. I'm dead tired, and this is something that will need my full attention. We'll resume this talk tomorrow night, after dinner."

Flynt gave him a look, but before he could say anything, Lakhri cut him off.

"And before you start complaining, take a moment to think about how this might have turned out if your fire had done any real harm. Among other things, you would have Eeth after you, besides me. Now get ready for bed."

It was all Flynt could do not to try talking his way out of it, the only reason he didn't being the threat that it would land him right back over that chair. "Yes, Sir," he replied quietly. He didn't bother with his undershorts. Instead, he just pulled them off with his trousers. Both had managed to knot around his ankles as he'd shuffled and jumped around, after all.

Five minutes later, he emerged from their joint refresher, his teeth brushed, hair combed and completely stark naked. Flynt couldn't have cared less. His ass was blazing, and as he lay on his bed, tummy down, the last thing on his mind was the sight he was presenting Lakhri. They were both tired. He would come up with a way to talk his master out of another run-in tomorrow night… Yeah. Like that had ever worked.

Lakhri went into the refresher after Flynt, getting ready for bed himself. When he emerged and found Flynt lying on his bed, he asked: "Will you be able to sleep, Flynt? An honest answer, please." He did want the lesson to sink in, but he also wanted Flynt to be well-rested tomorrow morning because, punishment or not, their mission had priority.

"I'll sleep." It was true, Flynt would sleep through a nuclear bomb and possibly be out like a light the second his eyes closed. "I'm probably still going to feel it tomorrow, though. Anyway, just for the record you needn't order me to be honest. I didn't lie to you, I did something stupid, and… I disobeyed," he said and propped himself up on his elbows.

"No, you didn't tell me outright lies, but neither did you face up to the truth of what you did," Lakhri replied, sitting on the edge of Flynt's bunk.

"Didn't you ever do such a thing as a teenager?" Flynt asked in the hopes of garnering some leniency for the following day, or in the very least elicit some comradely sympathy. Flynt hated being in the bad books with his master, and he was eager to remedy this.

Lakhri thought for a moment about that question. "Rarely," he finally answered. "I had Eeth to reckon with, and drinking alcohol was not something I wanted to incur his wrath for. But I still got carried away a few times, and boy, did I regret it. As will you, I'm afraid to say."

"You're not much easier to reckon with, you know," said Flynt. "You're possibly a bit harder to push to the point, though." The latter was added as an afterthought as he knew from experience that his grandmaster gave far less warning before dealing out an ass-kicking. He dropped his gaze at the news that he was going to regret this more so on the morrow, then sighed deeply at hearing how seriously Lakhri was taking what he'd done.

Lakhri rested a hand on Flynt's shoulder. "You might feel as if I'm overreacting," he said quietly. "But what you did was a lot more dangerous than you were ready to acknowledge, and if I need to be harsh with you in order to drive that message home, I will. I don't want you to end up endangering yourself or others."

As far as Flynt was concerned, he had faced up to what he had done, although with his ass still sore, he dared not voice that thought, for now. Instead, he reached out an arm, coiled it around the smaller man and hugged him. Flynt had no hard feelings, not really; he trusted the man to do what was best for him.

Lakhri readily returned the hug. He was not pleased with Flynt's behaviour, but that did not mean he held a grudge. "Let's sleep, padawan," he said wearily. "We'll forego meditation for once. I've done enough Force work today to last me for a week. I'll ask Eeth to do some healing on your bottom tomorrow morning. I want you to be able to function; and we will all need to work hard if we want to even have a chance to be finished rounding up the goyts by tomorrow night."

Despite not wanting his grandmaster to heal him – he'd rather go with a sore ass than have to face their mission leader over such stupidity – Flynt nodded. They did have a mission to complete and that was what took priority.

* * *

Flynt woke early the next morning, slid from his bed and checked the state of his ass. Fuck. It was no longer welted, but it still hurt, not nearly as bad as last night but enough to annoy him. He pulled on his sleep pants and wandered into the kitchen.

"He put them in the freezer," Raven told him, her tone conveying the grin on her face at having caught her Jedi nephew raiding the cooler for sweets yet again.

"Argh. He sucks. Why deprive us of dessert for breakfast? Really…" Flynt wandered out to find Raven lying on the floor, one leg up over her head, butt against the wall and studying a datapad. The teenager cringed; did that girl not have a spine?

"Why indeed," Raven said, rolling to her feet, taking her data pad and pulling him into a hug. She gestured that he sit with her, raising a brow when he was reluctant.

Picking up on the unasked question in her expression Flynt said: "If I tell you about it, I don't want further crap. Deal?" Flynt bargained, lowering his ass onto the settee.

Now she was intrigued. "What did you do?"

"Like I said, I'll tell you if you promise not to give me a hard time about it."

Raven nodded, but Eeth chose that moment to enter the common room, and Raven got to her feet. "Master," she greeted him, offering a bow.

Flynt, too, was on his feet, and offered a bow. He wasn't sure if Lakhri had told Eeth the story yet. Thus, he did his best to appear neutral.

"I was about to start breakfast," Raven told Eeth, standing and stretching. She didn't want to involve Flynt and whatever it was he was about to confess to.

"Yes, go ahead and do so," said Eeth. "Presumably, Drex and Kaden will be with you shortly. Lakhri is looking after the goyts. Flynt, I need to talk to you. Come." He motioned with his head towards the cabins and turned around, clearly expecting Flynt to follow.

The two padawans exchanged looks but said nothing. Then, Flynt cleared his throat and followed Eeth out.

* * *

Earlier that morning…

Lakhri had woken up unusually early and, instead of turning over and going back to sleep as was his usual habit, had decided to get up and forego Eeth's wake-up call for once. He got dressed, dragged a comb through his hair and walked out into the corridor where he ran into Eeth.

"Aww, I had been hoping to wake you for once," he complained, his eyes twinkling.

"No such luck," Eeth said solemnly. "Besides, I was in bed early last night." Eeth would never have admitted it, but he had been quite exhausted after a day during which he had had his eyes and senses everywhere: Backing up Raven where needed, catching goyts, coordinating the teams, finding landing grounds for the shuttle and so forth. While entirely unobtrusive, his job had probably been the most mentally demanding, apart from Raven's.

"So I noticed," said Lakhri. "You didn't notice what Flynt and Kaden got up to, then; or have you already talked to Drex?"

Eeth shook his head. "Let us see if the goyts are properly fed," he said. "You can tell me then."

While they poured sacks of grains into troughs with goyts trying to climb all over them, Lakhri told Eeth the whole story.

"I was too tired and it was too late to deal with Flynt properly last night," he finished. "I'll do so tonight. I did take my belt to him, though, for trying to talk himself out of this whole affair. I promised him I'd ask you to heal him this morning so he can make himself useful."

"I will," Eeth said, the expression on his face quite grim. "And I will also tell him what I think of members of my mission team who disobey their instructions and take unnecessary risks."

"Yes, go ahead and do so," Lakhri agreed. He was confident that Eeth would not deal out any punishment without discussing it with him first; Eeth never meddled. But if he gave Flynt an earful, that would hopefully leave an impression.

"I'll finish up here," he offered, "and you talk to Flynt?"

Eeth nodded. "Alright," he said.

* * *

And that was why Eeth was now beckoning for Flynt to follow him into his cabin.

Raven watched Eeth and Flynt disappear and got busy preparing breakfast. She glanced up as Kaden entered, giving him a smile.

"Need help?" Kaden asked casually and leant on the bench.

"Sure do, you can whisk up the eggs. I'm making omelettes."

Kaden did so without comment. Drex had not gone easy on him, but the effects were no longer discernible. Still, he assumed that Flynt would have already told everyone thus he hedged: "I suppose you heard about last night?"

"Last night? Nope. Flynt started to tell me something then Eeth took him away." She met him with a probing expression. "Presumably to offer some healing given that he wouldn't sit down, and to tear him a new one over whatever it was you two did."

"Both are likely," Kaden said, frowning as some egg went up the wall.

Raven tossed him a dishcloth. "Well, is anyone going to enlighten me or what?"

Kaden gave her a sceptical look. She appeared innocuous enough, but he'd made that mistake once before and swore there was still a spot on his right ass cheek that had not fully recovered. "I'll tell you, but you're not tearing up my ass for it, that's already been done."

"Oh please, give me a break. As if I'd take it upon myself to do such a thing. Mercifully, outside of our lessons, it is the masters who deal with your ass, not me."

"Just making sure," Kaden said, dodging a playful clip to his ear and shooting her a grin at his successful evasion. Raven was fast, so dodging her was a feat in and of itself. "Just so you know, you're now safe from Eeth's paddle." He looked over at her, his expression slightly pained. "He gave it to Drex."

Raven's brows rose into her fringe. "Seriously?" It was rhetorical, so she continued. "Whatever for?"

Kaden shrugged. "Sometimes it's easy to forget, but Drex is seventy-one." He stopped whisking the eggs and met the girl with a serious expression. "Now he's acquiring implements to deal with me… I feel guilty that I keep messing up and making life hard for him." Kaden also felt like he was turning into the worst apprentice in the history of the Order. Drex had never acquired implements for his previous padawans, and even though he knew that the man's age was a significant contributing factor here, he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for himself.

Raven let that comment linger; a little guilt wouldn't kill him, as long as it didn't turn into a self-defeating attitude.

"You think I deserve it?" Kaden pressed when the silence drew out.

"Nothing wrong with feeling a little guilt over having done something wrong. It's the regret and guilt over having caused problems that separate an evil person from a person who is good but just chose poorly. Don't dwell on it. Allow yourself to feel it, then release it into the Force. Oh, and as my master never tires of reminding me…" She bunged on a mock-Eeth tone in an effort to lighten the mood and said: "'Padawan, just do me a favour and learn from this.'"

Kaden wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he didn't. He did, however, smirk at her impersonation of Eeth. "You do that well."

Raven grinned and flipped the omelette. "Flynt does a better job. He manages to make himself look rigid, I have no idea how he replicates that."

"Speaking of Flynt, I wonder how he's doing in there with Eeth," said Kaden.

Raven noticed the wary expression Kaden was aiming at their cabin door, but said nothing of it. "He'll live, as long as he doesn't shoot his mouth off too much. Now, are you gonna tell me about what happened?"

Kaden's eyes met Raven's, and the boy's lip curled into a slight smile as he began to tell the tale.

* * *

Eeth closed the door behind themselves, folded his arms across his chest and directed his patented glare at Flynt.

"Grandmaster, please. I'm too skinny. Look, bony arms, all sinew, not nearly a worthy sacrifice for your first meal," Flynt told the man. He was attempting to lighten the situation, but with Eeth that was somewhat hit and miss.

"Stop trying to be funny," Eeth said sharply. "What you did is not funny in the least. You could have seriously hurt someone or started a major fire. I do not know if you noticed, but in contrast to Coruscant, many of the buildings here are made of wood. Not to speak of the fact that you not only went to a place where you had no business being, but also took a younger padawan along with you. Has it occurred to you that this is a real mission, with real lives at stake? These call for more responsible behaviour than you have shown."

Okay, so this morning it was going to be less hit and a lot more miss… Flynt had to fight to keep his eyes on the man, but he managed, just. He didn't like that Eeth was rubbing salt into the wound. He sighed. "Don't you think I know that?" he replied, a hint of irritation in his tone. "Yes, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I didn't know alcohol was going to affect me like that, and before you say it, I know I shouldn't have taken Kaden into the club. Force!" He rubbed at the back of his head as he sometimes did when trying to conceal nerves. "Lakhri already tore up my ass once, and he's not done with it yet. I think that is more than enough punishment over this, don't you?" He levelled the shorter man with an expression that said he thought it did. He also left out exact details of why Lakhri wasn't yet done with him. He didn't think that stating that he'd not taken this as seriously as his master expected him to would buy him any favours from Eeth.

"I will leave it to Lakhri to decide whether you have been punished enough," Eeth snapped, his glare intensifying. "And you will leave it to me, as the head of this mission team, to tell you off when I think you deserve it. Which you do. Abundantly so. Continue to take that flippant tone with me and I will decide you deserve more than a talking-to. I know you have a tendency to let your mouth run away with you, but this is not the time and place for it."

It was at this point that Flynt lost the battle to hold Eeth's gaze. He looked down at his boots, not sure what to say to that. Well, actually he had quite a few things he could say to that, but none that wouldn't land him in deeper shit with Eeth and his master. Lakhri was already pissed over his behaviour. Folding his arms, he met the man's eye once again. "I'm sorry, Grandmaster. I'm being punished, and I won't do it again. What more do you want me to say?" He wasn't happy at being told off like a small child; it was making him feel even worse about what he'd done.

"Nothing," said Eeth curtly. "I was simply not expecting to hear you tell me that we should be done making you feel bad. You deserve to feel bad about this, and if I point that out, you would do well to accept it. Now lie on the lower bunk and bare your bottom. I will perform some healing."

Again, there were a million things Flynt wanted, and could, say to that. But thankfully for him, Lakhri had spent a lot of years conditioning those smart-ass remarks out of him. Instead, he merely said: "Yes, Sir." He walked towards the double bunk, noting that both beds had been pulled up neatly, and dropped his trousers. Flynt wasn't wearing underwear today given that he had still been sore when he had woken up. Thus, when he lay on his stomach and pulled up his tunic, his bottom was bare. His ankles hung over the bed rungs, but he was used to that.

Eeth knelt next to him and started to let healing energy flow into the punished skin. He was still tired; they all were. But they also were experienced Jedi who were well able to deal with demanding tasks. Besides, Force-aided healing had always come easy to Eeth. He could not make wounds magically disappear, but he could remove the surface damage and most of the pain.

When he was done, he rose and said: "We will have breakfast now. After breakfast, Lakhri will stay here to look after the goyts; the rest of you will come with Raven and me to catch more. After the first trip, you will stay behind with Lakhri and help him get the new arrivals settled, hopefully without escapes. We will do our utmost to finish this task by tonight, but it might not be feasible – we will see."

Flynt rose and quickly adjusted his trousers, giving his backside a cursory rub. "Yes, grandmaster. And, thanks for healing me. I'm going to need it." The statement was spoken lightly but carried an undertone of truth to it; Lakhri was probably going to nail his ass to the wall again, after all. He wasn't thrilled at being relegated to settling the goyts, and his wrinkled nose said as much. Still, he liked to work with his master, and perhaps a day of stellar behaviour would work to convince him that a second 'conversation' over yesterday was not necessary. Flynt was going to try, and if all else failed, he could always try begging. It had never worked in the past, but you had to be in it to win it, right? Right! His resolve bolstered, Flynt followed Eeth into their kitchen area where Raven was busy serving up omelettes. He smiled. Today was looking better already.


	12. Chapter 12

The day turned out to be as exhausting as the last one. Lakhri was genuinely thankful to Eeth for having spared him another day in the swamps. He and Flynt barely had time to talk as they rushed after goyts and tried to get them into the cargo bay without any of the other ones escaping. Around noon, he offered to swap one shift with Drex because the man seemed quite exhausted. Besides, Lakhri had some business to attend to that required him to go outside. "When I'm back, you take over the next shift in the swamps, instead of Drex," he told Flynt in a low voice as he left him with Drex. "I think Drex is reaching the limits of his endurance, even if he doesn't show it."

"You got it," Flynt replied.

It turned out that three persons were needed to look after the goyts on the ship, however, since there were not many left in the swamp; after a very quick lunch, Eeth declared that he, Raven and Flynt would try to round up the rest while Lakhri, Kaden and Drex handled the goyts on the ship. "Your job will be to fly the shuttle back and forth," Eeth told Flynt. "At this point, you had better make a trip every time Raven declares a section of the swamp to be empty, whether you have three or ten goyts in the back."

It was almost dusk when they came across the final section of swamp, and Raven was truly feeling the strain. "Three more and this area is clear," Raven told Eeth, leading him in the direction she sensed the goyts' presence only to come to a dead stop. She looked around then closed her eyes, a groan escaping on her exhale. "Well, shit and balls," she muttered, tilting her head back and squinting up, because low and behold, there, high up in the branches of a tall took tree, were three goyts huddled together.

Understandably, the more of their numbers vanished from the swamps, the more nervous the remaining animals became, and consequently the harder they proved to catch. "Two are a mated pair, the other one is just along for the ride. Safety in numbers and all," she explained. Goyts mated for life; thus, the team had come across many pairs and discovered their bonds to be comparable to those of sentient humanoids. Capturing one of a mated pair reliably resulted in one of two outcomes from the uncaptured mate; aggression, or fear and submission. The latter was easiest to deal with, but what worked best was trying to capture them at the same time. Raven raised her palm to shield her eyes from falling particles of bark as the unmated third wheel in this party took off into a branch slightly lower on an adjacent tree. "The female is dominant, so I'll take the pair. You go after the bachelor. Flynt should be back by the time we've got them, and if he's not, I can control them until he arrives." She reached out with the Force as she had done countless times this afternoon and focused on luring the female down. If that didn't work they had two options: knock them out and levitate them to the ground, or go up after them.

The teen swiped a hand across her brow. She was a hot mess after having had to crawl into a burrow after a clutch of babies and their mother. Calming the male and preventing him from taking chunks out of their legs had been problematic and the babies themselves were too small to walk more than a few steps without toppling over. Thankfully for all involved, once the mother was under her influence, the family became much easier to handle. Raven, however, came out of that encounter second best. She had mud and goyt shit from head to toe and smelt worse than their quarry…

While Eeth and Raven were busy chasing goyts, Flynt had shuttled a load of twelve goyts to their ship and just finished getting the last of them inside with Lakhri and Kaden's help. Drex was inside, trying to maintain some semblance of calm with mixed success; the goyts were curious critters once they no longer feared for their lives, and as such, were currently 'taste testing' anything and everything! "Raven doesn't think there are many more left. However, she suggests staying on another night and leaving tomorrow morning after a final sweep of the area," Flynt told Lakhri when Kaden had disappeared inside to help his master with "crèche duty" as he'd phrased it earlier. Flynt had been ultra-diligent to his duties all day and done his job with renewed vigour in the hopes that Lakhri would notice and perhaps reconsider punishing him for yesterday. Broaching that topic, however, had been difficult. He had spent the last few trips trying to find the perfect opportunity to bring that to the man's attention but had not found the right words. Deciding that he probably wasn't going to get another chance at privacy this day, Flynt coughed to clear his throat and hedged: "I'm tired. I've really had to push it today. Do you think you could, you know, consider my slate clean for yesterday?"

Lakhri, knowing Flynt as well as he did, had expected something like this, but that did not mean he had to like it. He treated Flynt to a glare that was remarkably like Eeth's. "You've got some nerve," he snapped. "Padawan, you royally messed up yesterday, and if you really think I should forego punishing you for this, that only shows you still don't get how serious it was. Which means I'll just have to work harder to convince you. I'm fine with that, but I doubt your bottom will be. Now take the speeder back to Eeth, he needs you."

Okay, so that was not the response Flynt had been hoping for, not in the least, and it took all his self-control not to start hurling arguments for his case at the man. He didn't, though. Instead, he inclined his head and uttered a quiet: "Yes, master."

"Back it up, we've got three more and then we are done for the day," Raven called to Flynt over her commlink. She and Eeth had been 'babysitting' their trio of goyts for the last ten minutes now, and Raven, for one, was keen to relax her Force hold over them.

Once inside the shuttle, Raven took the back seat, Eeth was riding shotgun and Flynt piloting. She noticed her Jedi nephew seemed a little dispirited but decided to hold her tongue until they had a moment of privacy.

That moment came shortly after they had offloaded the last few goyts. "What's wrong with you?" she whispered as they made their way to the outside hose pipe to wash some of the mud off; Raven needed it more than the others.

Flynt shrugged, the despondent response out of character for him. "Lakhri's gonna tear up my ass again."

"What, twice? For the same thing? That's unlike him."

"Maybe not for the same thing. I might have thought less of what happened than I should have, or at least that's what Lakhri thinks."

Raven remained silent, her expression conveying that she suspected there was more to this.

"And... I might have tried to talk my way out of it." He threw his hands up in the air. "I did a great job today, don't you think that should count for something?"

"You did," Raven agreed, groping for a towel which Flynt readily offered. She scrubbed the clean, fluffy cloth over her face and neck, Force, did it feel good to do that. "You forgot about rule number one: 'Don't let your mouth write a check your butt can't cash.' Trying to talk masters out of punishment is never a good strategy, at least in my experience. It usually ends badly."

Flynt scuffed at the dirt with the toe of his boot, splattering mud up his pant leg. "I had to try," he admitted, crouching so that he wasn't towering over her.

"Try what?" Kaden asked, rounding the side of their ship to rinse himself off. He wasn't nearly as bad off as Raven, but he was still covered.

"Try kicking your butt at Sim Swords, of course," Flynt shot back jovially. For some reason, he didn't want to go into this with Kaden right now.

"Right," Kade answered, unconvinced. Not that the boy cared. He just wanted to hose himself off and eat!

In the meanwhile, Lakhri, Drex and Eeth took turns taking a shower and looking after the goyts. When they had done so, and their padawans were taking over the refreshers, Lakhri helped Eeth prepare dinner while Drex was refilling the water troughs.

"You go out tonight," Lakhri told Eeth firmly. "You're the only one who hasn't been. And besides, you're exhausted."

"Nonsense," said Eeth brusquely. "Do you really consider me so old that I would be affected by a day's work?"

"I consider the work you put in today sufficient to exhaust you, regardless of your age," Lakhri said, raising his eyebrows. "Stop lying to yourself and to me. You're exhausted and you will go out. Take Raven if you like, the girl needs a break. Drex has already offered that he and Kaden will look after things while I – well, deal with Flynt."

"Alright," said Eeth, relenting. Thus, when they were seated around the table twenty minutes later, he said to Raven: "I will be going into town after dinner. Do you want to come?"

"Yes, Master, I do, but… I can't." she looked up at him with a pitiful expression. "My head is pounding from all the Force work. Would you help me sleep before you leave?" That, coming from Raven was new. The teen had always been up for anything and everything. However, it would appear that this mission had truly challenged her endurance.

Eeth had, of course, known that his padawan was tired, but that she wanted to go to bed this early was a first. He was also pleased with how responsible she was being over this. "Of course, padawan," he said gently. "I will not be long anyway."

Raven said goodnight to the others and left; she really was feeling the strain.

Kaden looked from Raven's retreating form to Eeth. He had enjoyed his time in Tuppset and would like to go out again. The problem with that was that he wasn't sure if Eeth or Drex would consent to it given the trouble he'd gotten into last night. "Can I go with you?" he asked Eeth.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Do you think you deserve that, after last night's behaviour?" he inquired. "Particularly if it means leaving your master to do all the work, since Lakhri and Flynt will be busy with other things?"

Did he think he deserved it? Well, maybe… Did he want to leave Drex with all the work? No… He hadn't thought of it like that. After all, the others had gone out and left Eeth to it the previous night and it hadn't seemed to be a problem. Kaden sighed but said nothing more. He was probably pushing his luck here anyway.

Eeth did not think there was a point in asking any of the others to keep him company. As he had said, Flynt and Lakhri were going to be busy. If he took Drex, Kaden would be left alone looking after the goyts, and he might just be a bit too young to handle that responsibility, especially since there were now nearly twice as many goyts as there had been last night! So he helped ease Raven's headache and provided her with a light sleep compulsion that had her asleep within minutes. Then he left on his own, intending to get an impression of the local lifestyle; that never went amiss, in his experience.

Meanwhile, Drex and Kaden went to look after the goyts and their excretions. It wasn't that Kaden wanted to get out of work, but he was fifteen years old and the idea of going into the city held more appeal than cleaning up goyt shit. He said none of this, though, and simply followed Drex into the cargo hold.

Lakhri asked Flynt to help him clear the table. When they had finished, he said: "Alright, padawan. Let's go to our cabin. Where I want to hear you tell me, once again, what exactly was wrong with your choices last night."

Flynt didn't want to have this conversation and it showed on his face as he closed the door to their cabin behind them. "Master, c'mon… Please," he whined, dragging a hand down his face.

"Please what?" asked Lakhri sternly. "Please let me get away with intolerable behaviour during a mission so I can think it's no big deal and do it again? No way. Forget it. As I've already told you, I want to hear what was wrong with your choices last night, not why you're unhappy with being punished."

"But I really won't do it again," the boy pleaded and dropped to his knees so he was eye level with the man, not that he met his gaze as he worked up the courage to restate his crimes. "I took Kaden into a club when underage to do so and consumed alcohol. Then I was showing off and lit fires and that was dangerous. When you called me on it, I didn't…" He blew out a sigh, his chest deflating. "I didn't take it as seriously as I should have." At this point, he looked at his master with a piteous expression.

"Exactly," Lakhri said grimly. He went to their refresher and brought a bucket in which he had stored three switches that he had cut in the swamps today. All of them were impressive, but they clearly differed in their level of severity.

"When I picked these," he told Flynt, "I thought I'd see what degree of insight you're displaying and then decide which one I'll use. Now, your inadvisable attempt at asking me to consider the slate clean means I definitely won't pick the lightest one. Since you finally managed to actually state what you did wrong without making excuses, though, I won't use the most severe one either."

He took the medium-sized switch out of the bucket and nodded towards the chair. "Bare your bottom and bend over," he said.

Lakhri's declaration had the teen horrified, and the look on Flynt's face said it all: fuck! At first, he thought Lakhri was planning to use all three at once. His relief at seeing that there was only to be one was short-lived, however, when he got a closer look at his choice. It was about the same length as Eeth's cane, although slightly less sturdy. Yep, on a bare ass that was going to hurt like an absolute bastard. He got to his feet, swiped sweating palms down his trouser legs and tried to hide the fact that he was shaking. He was a man now, men did not tremble over such things, they just didn't! However, the sight of his master holding that switch and the instructions that followed were making that edict difficult to follow through. Swallowing, he pulled the chair away from the desk and started to unbutton his pants. He wanted to plead, really he did! But the risk that Lakhri might just pick up that other switch was too high, so the teen lowered his trousers – he wasn't wearing undershorts given his ass had hurt when he woke up – and leant forward over the chair without comment. He trusted his expression to do the pleading on his behalf.

Unfortunately for Flynt, Lakhri had been raised by Eeth who was possibly the strictest master the Temple had to offer, and he had absolutely no qualms about doling out punishment when he felt it was warranted. Flynt was not meant to enjoy this, and Lakhri was going to make sure that he didn't. "When you're on missions," he said, stepping up beside Flynt, "you're supposed to behave responsibly. And that's even more the case when you're in charge of a younger padawan. You aren't a teenager wanting to have some fun, you're a Jedi who has a job to do. And your behaviour should reflect that. Last night it didn't, and that caused considerable danger. That's why you're being punished." He raised the switch and brought it down across Flynt's bottom with a snap. It left a vivid red welt in its wake. Lakhri nearly flinched in sympathy; he had always hated switches with a passion, which was exactly why he had chosen this implement: he really wanted to leave an impression. With that in mind, he dealt out a second stroke.

"Ow! OWWAH!" the teen bellowed. This hurt, it really fucking hurt! He took the chair legs in a death grip, twisted his ass away in an effort at avoiding the next stripe and started to deep breathe. He could get through this; he deserved it, after all, or so he told himself...

Lakhri dealt out a third stroke and said: "If you need help staying in position, say so. This is not over by a long shot." With this, he meted out the fourth stroke, which hit the undercurve of Flynt's bottom.

Flynt didn't respond, he was too wrapped up in the agony of each stroke to construct any sort of meaningful reply, at least for the first few. He did, however, manage a gasp at that fourth whack, and he rose up on his toes, his back arching in pain at the fifth. "OwwwwWWWWWaH!" he bellowed. His back arched and his hand reflexively reached back for a moment to rub out the sting. "No, wait!" he pleaded. Christ, he really didn't take punishment well, and as much as he tried to tough it out, it showed.

Lakhri swatted Flynt's hand away, but mildly; he knew that Flynt was not good at coping with pain, at least when he was not allowed to use the Force in order to deal with it, and he had never expected him to be able to take his punishment stoically. That said, Flynt was going to take his punishment nonetheless, stoically or not, and therefore Lakhri made good on his offer and used the Force to restrain the boy. He could still move, but it would require a strong effort to break his position, which Lakhri knew Flynt would not do. When this was accomplished, he continued to bring the switch down, covering Flynt's bottom with parallel lines, and he did not stop when he had reached a full dozen either.

The sounds coming from Flynt at each lick were truly impressive. It was half roar, half wail, and entirely deafening. When that twelfth smack landed, he allowed himself to relax a bit; swats with such implements usually came in sets of six or so said the unwritten law. Unfortunately for him, Lakhri wasn't done. He went wide-eyed at feeling another tap, then yowled as it landed with no less alacrity. Unable to stop himself, the teen started to sniffle. "Please, no. more," he managed to get out sans blubbering. "It hurts! I can't take anymore, pleeeease. I'm sorry. I'll never do anything like this ever again. I really mean it!"

"Good," Lakhri said grimly, and dealt out two more strokes in quick succession, reaching the count of fifteen. He waited for a moment until Flynt's answering shout had died down, then said much more gently: "Two more, padawan." The switch was rather worn down by this point, but he doubted that Flynt would notice, especially given the fact that these last two crossed all the other welts. Lakhri meted them out quickly, then released the restraint on Flynt and dropped the switch.

Flynt hoped fervently that the man wasn't going to give him his age in licks, but as the fifteenth smack landed, animating him in a way that would have amused him had he not been in such blinding pain, he realised that this hope was not to be. Two more! His ass couldn't take two more of these, but as he attempted to shift, he realised Lakhri was restraining him. Flynt knew he could break that hold if he tried hard enough. The thing was, despite wanting badly to jump up and hop around the room clutching his scorched ass, he wouldn't. It would achieve nothing more than prolonging his agony and possibly earning disapproval for his lack of self-discipline. Flynt tried to brace himself, but Lakhri did not disappoint, and by the time he was done with him, Flynt was openly sobbing. That had been among the more memorable of punishments, and he certainly would not be forgetting the lesson any time soon.

Lakhri had meant for the punishment to be memorable. This was partly due to Flynt's age. He was seventeen now and thus at a point where he was supposed to take responsibility not only for his actions, but also for the missions he was part of, and that was even more the case when he had to look after a younger padawan.

Lakhri helped Flynt up and handed him a handkerchief, which was a habit he had adopted from Eeth.

"Clean yourself up a little," he said gently. "Then let's talk." Had he been taller, he would have pulled Flynt into a hug, but as it was, this would have been awkward unless the boy knelt down; thus, Lakhri merely patted his back, letting him know that he was willing to provide a hug if Flynt wanted to.

When Flynt stood, he stumbled on his trousers but was quickly steadied by the smaller man. He couldn't talk yet, at least not without blubbering which was something he did not wish to do. Not only was it 'unmanly', but it was also embarrassing. So, he nodded once, accepted the handkerchief and walked stiff-legged into their private refresher. "Ow, fuck," he hissed to himself upon appraising the state of his backside; Lakhri had done a number on him. His ass sported seventeen welts, fifteen that tramlined down, and two that hashed them all. Each was raised and stung. Groaning, he left the inspection of his ass to concentrate on the other end, splashing his face with cool water and wiping it clean of snot and tears. Only when he had composed himself did he slide open the door and step back into their sleeping area. Flynt didn't say anything yet. He just moved silently to where Lakhri had just gotten up from his chair and knelt so they could be at eye level. "Sorry I was so irresponsible." He didn't need to ask to be forgiven as he knew he already was, so, he opened his arms and hugged his master, showing that he held no ill will and… wanting the comfort.

Lakhri returned the hug readily, stroking Flynt's back. Unlike Eeth, he did not find anything about this embarrassing. "I trust you not to do it again," he said softly. "I know I was harsh. And I'm not quite sure you understand why, so I'm going to try and explain. You are a senior padawan now, and stunts like the one you pulled yesterday aren't considered child's play any longer. More and more, you will be expected to contribute to missions on the same level as a full Jedi knight would. That means you can't content yourself with obeying orders; you need to feel responsible for the entire mission's success. You have seen how much responsibility Eeth entrusts Raven with. Well, the same will be expected from you very soon. And therefore, you will need to take this as seriously as you possibly can. Besides, younger padawans will be looking to you as a role model. You did a poor job with that where Kaden was concerned. See what I mean?"

Flynt appreciated the gesture. However when he started to talk the teen rested back on his heels. "Ahh," he hissed quietly, immediately rising into a kneeling position and regretting the move. He was miserable. His heart fell at hearing all that, but worse still was knowing that it was true. A hand reached back to cup at a throbbing ass cheek, and he tried to settle his backside between his calves in a more comfortable position. It wasn't going to happen fast, but he tried to cover that. "I know. I understand. I don't have any excuse for what I did, it was irresponsible, and..." He looked over at the man as he attempted to settle his ass into something that felt remotely comfortable, his expression uncharacteristically sombre. "Deceitful. I had hoped you wouldn't catch me out. We both had, actually," Flynt scratched at the back of his head at having ratted out Kaden, but figured the kid had already been dragged over the coals for his part in this cluster fuck.

"I'm glad you see that," Lakhri said kindly. "I knew you would." He smiled at Flynt and gave his back one last pat. "I want you to meditate for half an hour now," he said. "After that, I'll consider the matter closed. I will give you some bacta so you'll be able to sleep, alright?"

"Alright," Flynt quietly agreed. He didn't want to meditate, he really didn't! Regardless, the boy rose (his attempt at sitting was not going so well anyway) and lay on his bed. This approach worked for Flynt as he wasn't an overly fidgety personality. Still, he was in significant pain and it took a bit of concentration on his part to ignore.

As it was prone to do, the bacta stung like an absolute fucker initially. Thankfully, by the time the tube had been scraped clean, squeezed within an inch of its life and spread over the area in question, the teen was beginning to feel some relief. Finally! Discarding the empty tube over the side of his top bunk for now – he'd collect it in the morning – Flynt flicked his watch to light up the time. It wasn't late, but their lighting had been dimmed for sleeping shortly after he'd been given the tube of bacta, thus he couldn't see much past his hand. "You awake?' he asked Lakhri, probing their bond for an answer a bit too late. He hadn't been awake, but the man was now.

"Who's first up for goyt daycare tomorrow?" Flynt's question lodged in his throat as he hadn't actually meant to wake his master. It wasn't really important, not at all, he had simply wanted to talk for a while.

Despite having worked on the ship, as opposed to the swamp, for most of the day, Lakhri had been really tired and thus dozed off almost at once. However, he was awake instantly at Flynt's question. Recognising the emotional need behind the rather trivial inquiry, he slid down the ladder and sat on the edge of Flynt's bunk.

"No idea, but I'm sure Eeth will organise it most efficiently," he said wryly. "We're going to be off soon, in any case. Things are going to be a little quieter then, I hope. As long as we can keep the goyts from escaping the cargo bay."

Flynt heard the man moving and given that he didn't immediately speak there was a moment of trepidation there, but only a moment. When Lakhri sat at his side the teen relaxed. His feet had been stuck through the end rungs of the bed and it wasn't altogether comfortable on his stomach. Then again, he'd survived a hell of a lot worse than a short ass bed and a healing backside.

They talked for a little while, not about anything overly important and not for very long since Flynt was as tired as his master. Nevertheless, the consideration Lakhri had shown him had worked to quash the last of his restlessness. He reached out and put a hand on the man's forearm. "Thanks." He smiled, his bright white teeth standing out in the glow of his watch that had just lit up to display the passing of a full hour. The next few days were going to mean a lot of effort to keep the goyts in check, and everyone knew it.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Eeth took Raven out in the speeder while the rest were put to work feeding the goyts in the cargo bay, cleaning up after them and finding ways to keep them as quiet and comfortable as possible.

"I am going to fly us across the swamp and you focus on finding stray goyts if there are any," Eeth told Raven. "I will do this for as long as you need me to."

Raven heaved a breath, drawing in a huge lungful of… stinky air, and blowing it out again; she forbore to wrinkle her nose out of futility. Raven was possibly the most taxed of their mission team thus far and was not looking forward to this final duty. Still, the teen knew what she had to do. "Yes, master," she replied. As they took off, she spared a glance for the cargo hold of their ship. The goyts were mostly diurnal; some leant towards crepuscular, though, which meant some rose very early and were into absolutely everything!

Three hours later, Eeth and Raven returned. Eeth managed to look dignified as was typical; Raven was attempting the same whilst once again slathered head to toe in mud. They had found another lone female and a family holed up on the northern edge of the swamp, right by the farmer's irrigation pipes and mere meters from the tilling machines used by the men. Raven and Eeth had not wasted any time in grabbing them but, unfortunately, Eeth's single female had fled up a tree whereas Raven's quarry had charged for their burrow, the month-old babies in tow. Yep. Fantastic.

Half an hour later, Raven was busy settling the babies with their family in the cargo hold when she caught Eeth's eye. "Master, ready to depart when you are," she told him, spreading out the final layer of washable bedding, while other goyts were nibbling playfully at her tunic and attempting to climb onto her shoulders.

"Alright," Eeth said. He had been waiting for her prompt and now immediately commed Lakhri who was going to coach Flynt through their take-off.

"Padawan, let's clean ourselves up and assemble the others," he then said. "We need to make plans for the rest of our trip."

Raven stood, brushed herself off and followed Eeth. They were halfway through their mission, and all that remained to do now was get the goyts to Lucia and hope that the environment turned out to be as suitable as she had predicted. The next three days were going to be something else, though; the smell was already pungent, and they were only on day one. Well, they had started this. No turning back now.

Raven sat on the floor of their cabin and pulled off a boot. She had gotten the majority of swamp mud off them before leaving Barslaa, but unfortunately, they would still need a clean. "You want to go first?" she asked Eeth, gesturing to their refresher with her chin as she pulled off her other boot.

"No, you go ahead," said Eeth, smiling at her. "You have done the bulk of the work on Barslaa. And you did well."

He did not say more than that. Eeth was not big on handing out praise. When he did so at all, it meant something, however perfunctory it might have been.

The praise garnered a modest smile from Raven, and she stood to meet his gaze. "Thank you, master." She had done a good job and it meant a lot to her that he'd said as much.

"You're welcome," Eeth said matter-of-factly. And beckoned for her to take a shower. They needed to get organised, after all!

* * *

"We should work in shifts of two," Eeth said when everyone was assembled around the table. "Else we will exhaust ourselves during this trip. I will draw up a plan. During the remaining time, you could resume your lessons with Raven, Kaden. The big cargo bay is out of the question, of course, but the smaller one next to it is nearly empty now with all the food the goyts have eaten."

At the mention of resuming his lessons with Raven, Kaden closed his eyes and exhaled. He had gotten more used to accepting her authority, but it was still something he was working on.

Raven noticed the slight look of weariness on Kaden's face. She could sympathise, but there was no point in wasting time whining about it; they each had their duty, and that was that. In fact, she had become more flippant and less patient with him since the incident with their meditation. It wasn't something Raven was doing deliberately, not entirely anyway. She was simply trying to do her job.

Kaden hadn't mentioned this slight change in her demeanour towards him to Drex as he figured he probably deserved a bit of a cold shoulder from her. Still, this was Kaden, and he would only take so much before he lashed out and fought back. Who would give first was probably the only unknown.

Eeth and Drex both noticed that their padawans were less than enthusiastic about this news, but that was not going to save them from going through with it.

When they had concluded their meeting, Eeth quickly drafted a schedule and then took Raven to the cargo bay for the first shift.

"Is there anything in particular that we need to look after?" he asked her, surveying the general chaos of hundreds of goyts climbing over each other in order to get at the food cribs and water troughs.

"Boredom is my main concern," she replied absent-mindedly while looking up at some exposed wiring in the cargo bay ceiling. "Other than that, and the constant cleaning up after them and keeping their food and water filled, they should coexist together easily enough." There were a few minor scraps between the odd goyts here and there, but thankfully, none had resulted in more than a nip or the removal of a small tuft of white fur.

In the meantime, Drex realised that Kaden needed a break. He had put in several days of hard work and the prospect of continuing his lessons with Raven, however inescapable, was not easy on him either. Thus, Drex decided to do something that he had not allowed in years.

"Let's have a round of sparring, padawan," he said as they left the galley. "Freestyle. No restrictions. Use all the Ataru you like. I'd like to see how you're faring with those lessons." He assumed that this was about the biggest reward he could offer to Kaden; and the boy really deserved one, given that he had been diligent and not complained once during their time on Barslaa - not even about his punishment.

Typically, Kaden was loathe to be seen giddy over anything; it just wasn't his M.O. However, Drex's words had him silent from the shock. Was he serious?, said his expression, not that Drex could see it. He wondered what he'd done to earn such a privilege. After all, he'd not exactly had a stellar run of behaviour so far this mission, or so he believed. "You mean it?" It was rhetorical, but the tone in which he had asked signified that he wasn't entirely sure he knew why. It also signified that he didn't want to question it; if Drex was letting him do Ataru, Kaden wasn't going to complain about it!

Drex chuckled. "Of course I do," he said. "Your little lapse of judgement in Tuppset's Red Light District aside, you really pulled your weight during our stay on Barslaa. You worked hard, and you deserve a break. Besides, you have made a lot of progress in your training during the past years, and you've become much better at keeping your temper in check. So, let's see what you've got."

Kaden's lip pulled into a lopsided grin as he followed Drex towards the mostly empty storage bay. His master's praise, and the reward of freestyle sparring, was making it very hard for him to appear humble and modest, but he was doing his best.

Drex kept this very simple. He took a ready stance, ignited his saber and waited for Kaden to begin. When he said 'freestyle', he meant freestyle.

Unfortunately for Kaden, in this instance freestyle sparring meant just that; Drex stuck to Soresu which left Kaden wearing himself into the ground trying to get a hit on him. The boy threw all that he had learned from both Drex and Raven at the man, but it was futile; if Drex was using Soresu, it was almost impossible to get a point. Still, Kaden had enjoyed the fight. It had been an opportunity for him to let himself go a little and vent. He fought with the controlled ferocity of one who had been forced to taper himself for so long that it had almost become effortless. Almost.

When Drex held up his hand to signal that their match was over, Kaden was pleasantly exhausted and slumped onto the floor. He had needed that. He had not lost control, nor had he let his anger rule him; he had simply used the fight to unwind.

Drex was very pleased with the degree of control Kaden had shown, and he told him as much. "If you continue like this," he said, "you will be both an excellent fighter and an excellent Jedi soon."

The praise had Kaden struggling to control his beaming smile, but he did. Just! "Thanks. Sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm getting much of anything right." It was more than Kaden would usually offer, at least without being prompted, but he honestly felt heartened by the confidence Drex had in him.

"I know," Drex said sympathetically. "Most padawans run through such stages, and I think your personal predisposition makes it harder for you than for many others. Still, rest assured that you do, in fact, get many things right. That just won't mean that I'll be any more tolerant with the ones you don't get right, I'm afraid."

He smiled at Kaden. "Just pull yourself together in your lessons with Raven," he said, "and focus on your duties. You've been doing fine with those so far."

Easier said than done, thought Kaden, but he kept that to himself; Drex had given him incentive enough to work on his control during Raven's lessons, and he would do his best.

"For the moment, though," continued Drex, "we need to apply ourselves to more mundane tasks. Raven said it might be a good idea to prevent the goyts from becoming bored. They like climbing. Let's see if we can provide them with some entertainment."

It was not surprising that, when they went to take over from Eeth and Raven next, Kaden was feeling pretty good about himself; he was making progress even if Raven didn't seem to notice it lately.

Drex took Kaden to a cargo hold that held crates in all sizes and they started moving them to the main cargo bay in order to build some kind of makeshift climbing hill for the goyts. They spent their time making platforms and runs, hiding handfuls of food in hard to reach crevices and generally attempting to keep the goyts busy.

Raven entered about half an hour later, a bottle of what she thought would work as some sort of cribbing deterrent in hand. She looked up at the platforms, then up at the ceiling; they had coiled and pinned the exposed wiring yesterday, and she hoped that would be enough to keep them out of it. "Spray this on anything you don't want them to eat, it might keep them from chewing on it," she said, looking at Drex but handed the bottle to Kaden. It contained some diluted version of a bitter herb that the goyts deliberately avoided in the swamps.

"Thanks," said Drex, "although there isn't much, I think. Unless they manage to pry the wall panels loose, we ought to be fine. But we should give the room another check-over, just to make sure. Kaden, why don't you do that while I fill up the water troughs." The goyts usually managed to spread the water across the floor quickly and the troughs had to be refilled every hour or so.

After Drex and Kaden had finished, it was Lakhri's and Flynt's shift, which was why Drex and Eeth sent off Kaden and Raven for their Ataru lesson after a quick snack.

"It's now or never," said Drex to Kaden. "And before you say it: never is not an option."

"The same goes for you, padawan," Eeth pointed out to Raven.

Kaden frowned, but that was the extent of his objections. "Alright," he replied, resignation written all over his face. Luckily for him, he kept it from his tone as he had no desire to repeat the lesson on the respect that he owed his superiors. In fact, he was pretty sure parts of his ass were still recovering from that lesson. Firstly, he had encountered Raven's wrath which had been unexpectedly harsh, and then his master had seen fit to add to it; the result was truly horrifying.

Raven noticed the expression for the second time that day, and again she responded with her own frown. Like Kaden had wisely done, she too forbore to do more than that, and her polite "yes, master" was the extent of it.

Making use of the room available to them, they began by running through different attack stances which Kade needed to work on. Raven nudged his lead foot forward with her boot, explaining that his stance was too short and why that was going to hinder him. A couple of moves later she shifted his elbow to raise his offhand guard and again offered an explanation. She was not being impatient with him, at least not yet. However, when she started to notice him become frustrated at the constant corrections, she paused the exercise. "Relax for a bit," she instructed, grabbing their water bottles and tossing over his.

Kaden caught it deftly and took a sip; he didn't want a bottle of water sloshing around in his gut if they were going to spar… Yeah, if they ever got past doing stances and to the good part!

Unfortunately for Kaden, Raven had planned to spend most of this lesson working on stances. "They really are a fundamental part of any form. If your balance is off…" She nudged him with her hip to prove a point.

He wobbled but did not overbalance. Had Kaden not had such a solid grounding in Soresu, he would have been forced to widen his stance or fall over, not that he was willing to admit this. Instead, he raised his chin, a triumphant look on his face at having won this small toss.

Raven ignored it and bade him to continue. The next correction she made was not a gentle nudge as it had been so far, but enough to force him into overcorrecting.

Kaden stumbled and if looks could kill, Raven's career as a Jedi would have ended then and there. He didn't appreciate being made to feel foolish, especially so when he had felt so smug at gaining the upper hand.

Ignoring his mutinous look, Raven continued teaching. "Like I said, small corrections can make all the difference. Meditate if you need to do so. We can start again when you're ready." It was spoken in a slightly impatient tone, but her intent was nothing to do with Kaden's dented pride; she had simply wanted to prove that her point was valid and that he needed to stop thinking that her efforts to correct him were nit-picking.

Given that he had performed the prerequisite ten-minute meditation before their lesson, Kaden was not as volatile as he might otherwise have been in this situation. He closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths and met Raven's gaze. "No need. Let's just get this over with."

Raven nodded, accepted his water bottle and tossed them back on the bag. He did not feel out of control to her so they continued.

The rest of that lesson was a little testy, but for the most part, Kaden kept a lid on his temper and Raven did her job, which was why they ended with freestyle sparring. It was cramped, yet the two weapon enthusiasts were in their element. They sprang from crates, leapt off walls and generally gave it their all; it was an enjoyable match and worked to quash a bit of the tension that had grown between them.

After their lesson, it was Eeth's and Raven's shift again while Drex and Kaden had some more free time.

"How did it go?" Drex asked Kaden as he emerged from the shower. "I thought I noticed this morning that you really have learned a lot of Ataru lately."

"Alright," Kaden replied a little too quickly. This garnered a moment of silence; Kade got the impression that the man did not believe him. So he looked over and added: "She keeps drilling me on the same things. Every tiny detail, the same stance over and over and over. It grates is all. I'm dealing with it." Of course, it also grated that she was bossing him around and was always half a step ahead of him, but he didn't mention that. Kaden was having enough trouble accepting Raven's authority without another lecture from Drex.

"Well, she is Eeth's student," Drex said with a smile. "I daresay you would not have fared better with Eeth as a teacher. Or with me, for that matter." Drex did pay a lot of attention to detail himself, and he had had several run-ins with Kaden over that. They had consistently ended with Kaden being paddled and spending the rest of the workout on push-ups and rope-skipping; he had eventually learned not to give in to his frustration. Raven might very well have to assert her authority more than once as well.

Drex's comment had the boy huff. He knew, but it was just something he struggled with.

When Eeth and Raven had been relieved from goyt duty, Raven made for their cabin to take another shower. She had not really needed one as she didn't tend to sweat much during the lessons with Kaden, and the goyts, although gross, didn't leave her slathered. She did, however, want another shot at washing her hair which had been matted with mud when they'd left Barslaa.

Raven was sitting on her bed combing out her hair when Eeth entered. She looked up at him with an expectant expression; either he would assign some task, or she would have free time until their next shift with the goyts. Naturally, the padawan was hoping for the latter but anticipated the former.

"We should have a workout of our own now," said Eeth. "I suspect your lesson with Kaden did not pose enough of a challenge to you. How did it go?"

"We've had better lessons. Then again, we've had a lot worse too," Raven admitted. She got to her feet and stretched, tossing her brush on the bed. "He's getting on my nerves," was added as she pulled long hair into a ponytail.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. The remark came unexpected. Eeth could simply not relate to the experience of anyone 'getting on his nerves'. Students giving him trouble, maybe; but that, he could easily deal with, and apparently, so could Raven (if not quite as easily). "How so?" he asked neutrally, deciding against voicing any of his thoughts.

"He's doing just enough not to push it too far, but that hardly makes what we're doing pleasant. Nor is it as effective as it could be if he put his full concentration into our lessons rather than looking for each and every opportunity to attempt catching me out." She summoned her saber from the desk and clipped it to her belt. "He's dying for me to make a mistake so he can correct it."

"You are letting him get to you," said Eeth, walking beside her towards the empty storage room. "Which is a mistake. Your nerves should not have anything to do with this. Maybe you should not tolerate anything but his best effort from him? I doubt that Drex does."

"Maybe. I didn't want to be constantly riding him. I know how that feels." Raven looked up and gave a slightly cheeky grin. "No offence meant, master." The truth was Raven had no problem with the way Eeth structured her training; she was at a stage now where she could see the forest for the trees and knew that had he not pushed her, she would not have gotten this far. "I don't know, the effort he's making now is a vast improvement on how he was behaving to begin with. I guess I thought that raising the bar again would be unfair. I should have started out how I planned to continue, with high expectations as I do with all my other classes." The teen folded her arms, allowing a bit of her frustration to show. "But he's my friend, and I found that hard."

"I can see how this complicates things," Eeth conceded. "Maybe you should talk to him about it, then. Letting him get on your nerves is not a good strategy. It will make you irritable and set him even more on edge. Think about it."

He opened the door to the cargo hold and beckoned her in. "Warm up for five minutes," he said. "Then freestyle sparring." Just like Drex, he felt that Raven had earned a reward.

"Yes, master." Raven's response covered both his comment and instructions.

Five minutes later they were making the most of the cramped space. Raven was loving this, her small size giving her an advantage over Eeth. Suffice it to say, the padawan felt like she had indeed worked out by the time they'd finished, and she was feeling far less bothered by the issues with Kaden; a workout tended to have that effect on her. "Thanks. I needed that," she admitted to Eeth as they left the makeshift training room, shortly after cooling down.

"You are more than welcome," Eeth said with a small smile. "You earned it for your good work on this mission, padawan. I am proud of you."

In her younger years, hearing praise like that from Eeth would have resulted in an uncontrollable, ear-to-ear smile. These days, it garnered the same feeling of pride and accomplishment in her achievements, but she was well able to accept it humbly. "Thank you, master." Raven could use to hear that at the moment, as she had been focusing on her failures with Kaden and forgetting that the rest of their mission was going well.

Dinner that evening was a delicious soup and some crusty bread rolls that Lakhri had procured from Barslaa. The meal was hearty and filling. Nevertheless, Kaden, Flynt and Lakhri all went back for seconds, which of course resulted in Raven teasing them about having hollow legs.

"If you ate a little more, you might not blow over in the next strong wind," Kaden snorted, taking a bite out of his third bread roll.

"And if you focused on what was important, you might not wind up losing your saber in our next sparring session," Raven shot back. The exchange had been jovial, but there was an undertone of tension between the two.

Lakhri rested his hand on Raven's briefly, warning her to go easy on Kaden, and gave her a quick smile. "We've all been fighting our way through heaps of goyt shit for the entire day," he said peacefully. "I think we are entitled to seconds."

Kaden bristled slightly at her remark, but after Lakhri's comment, he was not ticked off enough to have another go at her.

Raven, for her part, had simply been speaking the truth, however untactfully. She rose a brow at her Jedi brother's words, but was entirely unwilling to see things escalate to a point where any master thought it necessary to intervene. Thus, she fell silent.

"So, my robot. Who wants to see the latest improvements?" Flynt cut in, easily directing their conversation to a less sensitive topic. He was good like that.

The rest of the evening was spent fairly quietly and peacefully. The goyts seemed to have settled in and went to sleep when the lights were dimmed. Everyone went to bed early; the mission was exhausting them all.

* * *

The following morning, it was Lakhri's and Flynt's shift first; Eeth sent Raven and Kaden off to their lesson right after breakfast.

The lesson and the rest of that day passed without serious issue. However, the tension between Raven and Kaden remained and seemed to continue building after their morning lesson. Several small 'trials' between the two of them popped up throughout the day…

"Stop bossing me around or you're going to piss me off. And you like me a lot less when I'm pissed off, remember?" Kaden snapped that evening when she'd had a go at him for not scraping enough food off the plates before putting the dishes into the steriliser.

Kaden could have been a five-year-old initiate for all the effect that statement had on Raven. "Stop complaining and do it," she told him in the same snippy tone that she had favoured with him lately.

The boy rankled, tossing the dishcloth aside and slowly folded his arms. "Ask nicely," he challenged.

"I asked nicely the first time, yet you accused me of bossing you around. Again. You need to come up with new material as that one's getting old," Raven shot back and turned to face him, her gaze unwavering. Raven knew that this was not the way to handle Kaden, but she was getting frustrated herself, and perhaps she was being a tad bossy. Anyway, she was in charge to a large extent on this mission and deserved a little respect.

"You didn't ask, you ordered, there's a difference," Kaden retorted.

Raven narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "Lord Lightbane," she intoned, making a low, mock bow. "Pretty please, with sugar on top, be more diligent at scraping the plates clean before you put them in the sterilizer!" By the time she'd finished that sentence her voice had risen; she was allowing him to get to her.

"That wasn't nice, that was sarcastic and patronising," Kaden informed her.

Okay, so Raven had had enough. She picked up a newly wiped plastic spoon and feigned reflection. She had no intention of using it on the boy, but he didn't know that.

Kaden was about to call her bluff – it was not like she could hurt him with that anyway – when Eeth entered the kitchenette.

Immediately, both padawans dropped the disagreement. "We're almost done," Kaden tried to cover, but the truth was, they'd been standing there for five minutes and still not made any progress.

"Done doing what?" Eeth asked coolly. "Arguing?" He had overheard some of what had been going on; more the tone of the talk than the actual words, but it had been enough to feel the tension between the two. It obviously prevented them from getting any work done, which was something that Eeth never particularly appreciated.

"No. Done with the dishes," Kaden supplied smartly.

Raven groaned; dumbass, she thought, but kept that to herself. "Yes, master, done arguing. We'll be done with the dishes soon." She meant it, too, and gave Kaden a quelling look.

"I should hope so," Eeth said, treating Kaden to a look of his own that was a good deal more quelling than Raven's.

Only when they were in their cabin later that night, getting ready for bed, did he ask: "What was your argument with Kaden about, by the way?"

"Nothing noteworthy, "she replied, then upon seeing the expression on his face, elaborated. "He insists on claiming that I'm being 'bossy' all the time," she told him simply, while running a brush through her hair.

"And are you being bossy?" asked Eeth matter-of-factly.

Raven made to answer that with a 'no!' but paused. Was she being bossy? Probably a little, but it was deserved. "I'm just trying to get him to do his job," she deflected, letting that comment linger for a moment before putting her brush down and meeting his gaze. "The things I've called him on are not unreasonable, and had I been doing the same you'd have certainly called me out at the very least."

"Possibly," said Eeth. "What did you call him on earlier in the kitchen, then?"

Raven recounted their latest disagreement over the steriliser to him, and then she frowned. "If I dared to be so antagonistic to a superior Jedi I'd have fully expected to be told off, or worse."

"Well, as you said, you are a fellow padawan and his friend," Eeth replied. "That puts you in a difficult position, but the same is true for Kaden. Just for the record, I do usually say 'please' instead of giving orders in such ordinary everyday situations."

Despite feeling that Eeth didn't know what she was talking about, Raven nodded her head in deference to his comment. "I know," she said simply and picked up the brush once again; her hair didn't need it but the teen was enjoying what would have usually been a mundane chore.

Eeth was silent for a moment. Then he said: "I might not be the best person to give advice on how to deal with others. On the other hand, when I was your age, I got into arguments over being perceived as 'bossy' any number of times. Usually, these were situations exactly like yours: I was the other person's senior and I was fully entitled to give the orders I did. And yet, I came to realise, with my master's help, that I tended to needlessly antagonise others and that this was not in anyone's best interest. This might not apply to your situation at all; I merely ask you to think about it." He gave Raven a small smile and rose. "Let us meditate, then sleep," he said. "It will be our turn to prepare breakfast tomorrow morning. At nine, Kaden's shift will be over, and there will be time for your lesson."

As Eeth spoke, Raven started to wonder if the same was true for her. Was she antagonistic towards Kaden? Bossy? Maybe; it was hard to recognise your own failings. Hearing that this was an issue Eeth had had as a padawan did not come as a surprise, but Force, was she like that? Surely not. The teen swallowed, then knelt where he bade. For reasons she couldn't explain, Raven didn't want to share that self-doubt with her master, so she shielded her feelings. This was not a usual occurrence, but neither was it entirely foreign; there were things that a teenage girl did not want her master to know after all, and he respected that for the most part.

Eeth vaguely suspected that Raven was more like he had been at her age than she would acknowledge. He hoped that she was reflecting on her behaviour and that this might be what motivated her to shield her emotions during their meditation; but he did not want to pry and therefore did not broach the issue again that night.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Thanks for your reviews, y'all. They're always appreciated! We love to hear what you guys think. To Jasper's Mom: To answer your question, when we came up with the goyts, we had goats in mind as reviewer 'Hahahaha' so aptly pointed out. Of course, we modified them to suit our Starwarsly needs. There's no reason not to think of them as monkeys, though. ;)

* * *

Eeth spent a comparatively leisurely time preparing breakfast the next morning while it was Drex's and Kaden's shift to look after the goyts. When Flynt and Lakhri took over, Drex and Kaden cleaned themselves up and ate. Then, Eeth and Drex sent their padawans off for their Ataru lesson.

Again, neither Raven nor Kaden were particularly thrilled with this arrangement, but both did as bade, quickly and without protest.

Raven was making an effort not to rip Kaden's head off which she found hard given his borderline approach to their lessons. "Focus, Kaden!" she scolded, just as Eeth had done with her countless times when her concentration was not on the task. Okay, so they weren't doing the most thrilling of exercises, and given that the teen had struggled with restlessness her entire life, she could relate. However, she had been 'coerced' into shape, and he would have to endure also.

"Stop riding me," Kaden said a tad snippily while fixing his posture and straightening his stance.

"It's my job. C'mon, stop whining and do it. There are worse things you could be doing right now, you know," she told him honestly. And Raven really could think of quite a few things Eeth would have her doing now, had she started complaining about his teaching style during lessons. After all, they had been at this for fifteen minutes now, and Kaden had still not met her expectations.

As had become typical, the longer the lesson drew on, the more Kaden pushed the limits of what they'd agreed upon to be acceptable conduct. The issue was not so much with his physical behaviour, at this stage; it was more his lacklustre effort and corresponding remarks that finally pushed Raven to push back.

They were sparring for the last half hour of their lesson – a privilege the senior padawan did not believe he deserved – and Kaden was giving this his all, as he usually did when fighting. However, this time Raven was not giving him an inch. She quite literally trounced him, not allowing time for education, corrections, encouragement. Nothing. Kaden might be more powerful both physically and through the Force, and he was a talented fighter for someone his age, but he was no match for Raven's experience with Ataru.

Kaden didn't know what had hit him. "Seriously, you're just going to mow right over me? At least give me a chance to fight back." It was very unlike him to ask for a reprieve during a sparring match. Mostly, he sucked it up and ploughed on regardless. But where the Force had this come from? He hadn't thought Raven had it in her. Raven reminded Kaden of a porcelain doll, fragile and easily breakable, but as he blocked another blow that had barely fallen short of dropping him, he began to rethink Master Yoda's infamous adage.

"Be sure to request the same when you fight for real," Raven replied mercilessly and continued to pound the kid.

Kaden was getting angry. Nevertheless, he was controlling it. For now. He continued to fend her off as best he could, but – and despite his skill in Soresu – she was coming close to hurting him with some of those blows. "Oof!" he gasped when a kick to his midsection momentarily knocked the wind out of him. The force from the kick had been pulled, of course, but that one had hurt.

"If you gave your full attention to the fundamentals I have been trying to teach you, you wouldn't need a break to attack because you would have created one," the teen criticised. But she was pushing it herself and needed to focus. She lunged forward and disarmed him, the sound of his lightsaber deactivating and clattering to the floor of no consequence to her. "Get up. Move!" she pushed him on, flipping to land before him and making to strike.

"Back off!" Kaden growled, his temper ramping at being backed into a corner both figuratively and literally. He reached out with the Force and pushed. He wasn't trying to hurt Raven, but nor did he care if she accidentally hit the wall, head first! It was poor form, and he knew it. But, well, fuck it; she was pushing him, so he was going to push back, and Kaden had a lot more oomph behind him.

Raven paused. She was not as strong in the Force as Kaden, just more experienced. Consequently, she was just able to take the hit without sliding into the wall. That was actually impressive on his part, not that she was willing to say as much. "Get up, now! Throwing a temper tantrum will not get you out of this. It will reliably earn you one consequence. We will talk about that later. For now, move!"

Raven's words had been tempered, albeit laced with steal; it was disconcerting. So it was that the boy refrained from spewing more of his vitriol upon her, scrambled to his feet before she could land on him and grabbed his saber.

Raven pushed him until he was stumbling around. Another twenty-five minutes of this passed by before Raven finally let him stop; the lesson was running well over time, in any case. "Disignite your saber and walk the room." Okay so it wasn't a BIG room, but they could still make use of it. When he had caught his breath and calmed down, she pulled her saber from her belt, then thought better of it and reattached it again with a determined snap; this wasn't going to do. "Give me your belt."

Kaden's jaw squared. "What for?"

"Obey first, question later," Raven replied. Was she being too harsh on him? She put this to the 'what would Eeth do' test and decided that she wasn't. In fact, he'd probably give her extra for not obeying in the first place.

Kaden scowled. Tyrant! Well, not really but he wanted to believe it as it legitimised his feelings of self-pity. He took his time detaching his weapon and setting it aside, and then slowly, very slowly he slid each utility from his belt one by one.

"Two more for stalling," Raven told him coolly, her arms crossed.

"Two more what?! You haven't told me anything yet, how am I meant to know how to act?" He handed her his belt, his expression deadpan. It was a lot thicker and heavier than hers and would hurt correspondingly more.

"I told you to give me your belt, and you chose to drag that out. No doubt because you know how I'm planning to use it. I don't blame you. Stalling is not going to cut it with me, though, and neither is hitting me with Force pushes when you know very well that that is unacceptable during a match!" She rounded on him, his belt gripped tightly in her right hand. "You could hurt someone doing that." She let that comment linger for a moment before continuing. "You've been bordering on obnoxious, disagreeable and, to be honest, you're an outright bothersome pain in my ass to teach. Well, not any more." By this stage, Raven had gotten an inkling that their classes would continue for a lot longer than this mission, and she wasn't keen on fighting him the entire way. Thus, she asked: "Do you have anything you want to say before we do this?"

Kaden, for his part, remained oblivious to the fact that he might need to endure more than just this mission under Raven's tutelage. He wasn't sure what to say to her closing statement, so he folded his arms, gave her a smug look that said 'do your worst' and said nothing.

Okay, so now Raven was becoming annoyed. Humbling Kaden was what first came to mind, but how could she possibly pull that off? For what felt like the millionth time since these lessons started, Raven put this to the 'what would Eeth do' test. It failed; it would be impossible for her to put him over her knee and wallop some humility into him as a precursor. It crossed her mind to fetch one of the masters to deal with him, but she dismissed that almost immediately; this was her class, Kaden was her student, and she needed to deal with this herself. Decision made, Raven used the Force to move one of the full food crates from the wall. "Two things," she said while beckoning him over and gesturing that he drop his trousers. "Why am I punishing you, and why do you deserve it?"

Again, Kaden made no move to comply and said nothing. He simply stood there, arms crossed and a smug expression on his face.

"Have it your way, then. Wait here." Raven put his belt on the crate and made to walk to the door. If he wasn't going to obey here, she would get one of the masters to supervise this. She would still be punishing him, but if it took Drex, Eeth or Lakhri to ensure Kaden's compliance, it was his funeral.

"Alright, alright, you win," Kade said, attempting to sound casual when he was cold with horror on the inside. Suddenly, Kaden wasn't feeling so smug. Raven didn't stop, though. Instead, she opened the door and walked out on him. Fuck! The boy ran after her and thankfully caught her just before she entered the galley. "Wait. Look, I'm sorry. I'll do as you say. Please, give me another chance." Kaden wasn't stupid. He knew that if Raven got Drex involved in this, he was not going to sit down again for the remainder of this mission.

Raven paused, her hand on the automatic door plate. "Give me one reason why I should," she replied, annoyed.

Well shit! Kaden had nothing, but when Raven made to open the door, he grabbed her hand away. "Please. I probably don't deserved it, but I'm asking you as a friend to cut me some slack."

Raven's brows rose high. "Cut you some slack? What about me? Have you cut me any slack!?"

"No! But I plan to. Please." Kaden was begging now and he hated it!

Raven stood there contemplating for the longest moment before reaching a decision. "Alright, here's the deal. You're going to be a perfect student for the rest of our lessons. Otherwise, I'm not going to bother with warnings, I'm just going for one of the masters. Got it?" Raven knew that she was only winning his compliance out of fear of what the masters would do to him, but it was all she had at this point. Besides, she doubted that this situation was going to be a common occurrence; most of her students were easy and enjoyed lessons with her. Kaden was a fucking nightmare.

"Deal," Kaden replied quickly, and without waiting for her to even turn, he practically ran back to their training room.

As a matter of fact, Drex had been sitting in the galley and overheard the whole thing. It did not exactly surprise him; he had sensed earlier that Kaden's temper had surged and he had sensed the Force push, too. Jedi instructors were never happy with such things. So it was obvious that his padawan was still not behaving for Raven as he knew he should; and from what Drex had overheard, it was also clear that Kaden had nearly brought Raven to the point where she needed to come and fetch him. Drex would have thought the consequences of Kaden's last run-in with Raven had been impressive enough to convince the boy that he needed to pull himself together but apparently, that had not happened. His pride was, once again, getting in the way, and that was really beginning to be a serious problem. Drex rather thought he needed to cure Kaden of this, little as the boy would enjoy that. But first, Raven was hopefully going to impose her own consequences.

* * *

Raven blew out a sigh and made her way back to their training room. When she got there, she was met with the unpleasant sight of Kaden's underwear-clad ass. He had his hands on the crate and was bracing himself. Well, that was one less order she'd need to give. Resigned, Raven picked up his belt from the crate where she had left it before walking out and stood to his side. "Why am I punishing you, and why do you deserve it?" she repeated.

Kaden was just dying. But he knew that Raven had his balls in a vice here; if he disobeyed, he was going to cop it two-fold, and that was to be avoided at all costs, even his pride. "I might have been difficult. And I guess I lost my temper again," he answered. It had come out strained, but he had gotten it out.

It was a half-assed answer, but Raven knew that the boy had understood what he'd done. "Difficult?" That's the understatement of the decade, she thought but kept it to herself. "I wish upon you a padawan as difficult as yourself." And with that, she brought the belt back and bought it down with a crack that was so hard the sound rang off the walls. Raven wasn't holding back at all and was rewarded with a strained grunt from Kaden. She kept this up until his grunts turned into groans, then whimpers and finally he was having trouble staying in position. Only then did she pause. "That was for your general lacklustre approach to our lessons. You need to step up to the plate, or you will have a hard time ahead."

Kaden was concentrating so hard on keeping his composure that he barely heard a word of what Raven said. He did, however, grunt in acknowledgement. That all changed, though, when instead of being told to stand, he felt his undershorts coming down. Fuck! He gritted his teeth. That had hurt plenty bad enough over his shorts; bare was going to be a whole other ball game.

Raven knew he hurt. She had been there herself. She wouldn't be able to hold him down, at least not without injuring him; he was too strong in the Force. Thus, she asked: "We're not done. Can you manage, or do I need to ask for help?"

Kaden's nostrils flared, and he visibly cringed. "Seriously?" Was she honestly asking him if he needed to be held down? FUCK! Somebody, anybody? Just kill me now. Please!

"Seriously," Raven countered but was waiting patiently for his answer.

"Just get it over with," Kaden said, careful to keep this tone on the right side of 'keep the masters out of this!'.

Raven knew how Kaden felt, or at least she thought she did. Personally, she had never struggled with authority as he did. Then again, she had her own issues that Eeth would no doubt attest to. Without preamble, Raven dealt out fifteen solid licks to the thickest part of his bottom, and each was as hard as she could make it. "That was for nailing me with a Force push during a lightsaber duel. What else?" she held him down, her hand on his lower back as he gasped to catch his breath. Apparently, his belt packed more of a wallop than hers did. Well, that was the point.

"For disobeying," he replied quietly through sniffles.

"Right. I ordered you to continue, among other things..." She didn't think it necessary to restate each as he seemed to have grasped the point here. "When I, or any Jedi superior, gives you an order, you obey it."

The boy didn't have much time to reflect on that because shortly afterwards, the belt cracked onto the tops of his thighs. He let out a shout that would have been heard over the bleating goyts, over the hyperdrive generator, Force! It would have been heard on the outer rim, he was sure of it. Kaden hated it when his thighs were targeted, and those licks were on par with the worst he had felt.

The next one caused Kaden to curl slightly in an effort at avoiding it, but Raven didn't pause, or use the Force to hold him as Eeth would have done with her. She simply moved so that she had a clear target and landed another just below it.

By the sixth Kaden was yelling blue bloody murder and crying into his sleeve.

Raven took this as her signal to deliver a final two, and then she stopped. It had been harsh, but he would live. "When you're ready, stand up," she told him, not unsympathetically.

Kaden hadn't noticed it, but he had taken a death grip on the top panelling of the crate causing his fingers to go white and leaving them indented from the wooden edge. Now that it was over, however, his first priority was pulling himself together and regaining his dignity, or what was left of it. He stood stiffly, wincing as he righted his clothes, and did his best to stand tall and look unfazed as he turned to face her. Yeah, right.

Kaden's determination and efforts at composure were impressive, but they weren't fooling Raven. She had been around the block a few times herself and knew that the belting she'd just doled out could not be easily dismissed. He was going to hurt and would continue to hurt until he either healed or was given bacta. "My master would order a lengthy meditation now," Raven told him in a solemn tone and met his gaze. "But I won't. Not this time. However, I think it goes without saying that I fully expect you to speak to Drex about this lesson." She handed him his belt.

Kaden did his best to disguise the internal cringe he had at the mention of regaling Drex with today's lesson highlights. "Look, I'm sorry. Please don't tell Drex to add to this. I don't think I'll live."

Raven had to chuckle at that; she just couldn't help it. Why? Because she had thought similar herself so many times over the years that she had lost count. "You will, you just won't like it," she replied. Raven wasn't being cruel here, but she did see herself in that plea.

"Will you ever stop bossing me around?" the boy asked.

"Will you ever stop giving me cause?!" Neither padawan knew that this argument was going to follow them through many years of service to the order, but it was.

* * *

Eeth was already waiting for Raven in the corridor. He immediately noticed Kaden's stiff gait but chose not to comment on it. "Our shift is starting in two minutes," he told his padawan, "We need to go and relieve Lakhri and Flynt. Come. Kaden, your master is waiting for you in the galley."

Oh Joy, thought Kaden, but wisely kept that to himself; he was in enough trouble as it was.

Drex was indeed in the galley, soaking a pot of grains that Lakhri had bought in Tuppset. "There you are, padawan," he said mildly. "What happened?" He did have a fairly clear idea of what had gone down but he wanted to hear it from his padawan.

Kaden leant on the bench and played with a dropped piece of peel that Drex had possibly missed. He wasn't particularly thrilled at having to recount the lesson but recalled Raven stating that doing as much was not only for his own benefit but for hers also. Reluctantly, the boy gave an honest recount, his expression sheepish by the end. "She was hard on me, not just during the sparring either." Raven had not offered comfort or healing after dealing out punishment. Ordinarily, this wouldn't bother him, but that was probably because he was always given the option.

Drex was not happy with what he had heard, and it showed in the expression on his face. "So you lost your temper again, in a way that might have been quite dangerous, and you disobeyed Raven again," he said. "After having been punished for both of those things before. Not exactly a steep learning curve, is it?"

Kaden pursed his lips, biting back the 'it's not me it's her!' Retort that he was so desperate to let fly. Instead: "I'm trying. Please, just give me a break this once, my ass is killing me, and I feel rotten enough," he pleaded.

"How, exactly, are you trying?" Drex asked Kaden, straightening up from the kitchen table and turning to face him. "Can you honestly tell me you have done your best to obey Raven, do as she asked of you and make your utmost effort in these lessons?" He did not comment on Kaden's request for "giving him a break". Kaden knew better than to expect "a break" when he did not deserve one; and whether he did or not was yet to be determined. The few instances in which Drex had opted for being lenient with Kaden, this had always backfired.

"No, but I'll do better," he replied after a long pause, because what else could he say to that? He frowned and crossed his arms; apparently, he was between a rock and a hard place here. He wanted badly to say that he had done his best to obey Raven, but the truth was he had tried to get away with maximum 'smartassery' while employing the minimum effort acceptable.

"Oh, I'm sure you will," Drex said neutrally. "For your own sake. These lessons will continue throughout the remainder of our mission and probably also after our return to the Temple. I happen to think they are beneficial for you. They would be more beneficial, though, if you applied yourself to them instead of giving your teacher a hard time. And I'm extremely unhappy that Raven had to punish you for a second time for the exact things for which you have been punished before - especially for losing your temper, of all things. You know how dangerous that can be. And no, I won't 'give you a break.' You will give me your saber now, and you will only receive it back when there has been a marked improvement in your attitude towards these lessons." He held out his hand, the expression on his face firm.

Hearing that these lessons with Raven would continue was bad enough, but what Drex said nex had Kaden's mouth drop open. "What! No way! We're on a mission, you can't!" He blurted, a protective hand going to his sabre. Kaden was mortified. Having one's lightsaber confiscated during a mission was quite possibly the worst punishment he could think of.

"Right now," Drex said calmly, "we're on a starship. You don't need your saber for anything but your lessons. When we arrive at our destination, I will decide if and when to hand your saber to you. You can safely leave it to me to judge whether you need it for your own safety. And talking back to me was not a wise thing to do, considering that this is not the end of your punishment. The spanking you're going to receive tonight will be with the paddle, instead of my hand. If you don't hand me your saber now, I can easily upgrade it to my hairbrush, though." He continued to hold out his hand, the expression on his face implacable.

Kaden wanted to cry but he held it back. "If there's no need for me to have it, what's the point in taking it off me?!"

This might not be much of an argument but Drex had to concede that it was ingenuous. It was also a continued attempt at talking back which, under the circumstances, was nothing short of suicidal.

"The hairbrush it is, then," Drex said, unfazed. "Now give me your saber. I'm not willing to put this to a vote."

Kaden just stared at him. He couldn't be serious, there was just no way. Hoth would burn to the ground before he submitted to having his ass further roasted with that bat his master tried passing off as a hairbrush and his expression, not that Drex could see it, said as much. Fortunately for him, he didn't voice his opinion. Instead, he unclipped his lightsaber and slapped it into the man's outstretched hand, hard enough to make his feelings on this clear; he was both pissed and upset in equal measures.

"Thank you," Drex said drily, clipping the saber to his belt. "I know you're already hurting. And I will give you some bacta in a moment. First, though, calm down." He rested his hands on Kaden's shoulders. "Do you need help doing so?" he asked gently. "I know this isn't easy. Really, I do."

"No, you don't. You have no idea how this feels," Kaden retorted, barely restrained fury clear in his tone. He was angry. He crossed his arms and glared at the floor. He didn't want help, he wanted to be mad, to kick and scream at the injustice of it all. The sight of his lightsaber hanging from Drex's belt for all to see just topped off that morning perfectly. "What does it matter anyway, keep it, see if I care." Kaden wanted to storm out but he knew to do so would result in only one outcome, and he wanted that outcome less than any temporary satisfaction losing his temper would grant.

Drex was not only a fairly empathic person, he had also - unbelievable though it may seem - had a temper when he had been young. He had been no stranger to receiving harsh punishments either. Thus, he thought Kaden might definitely give him more credit for being able to know how he felt. At least he was more or less keeping his temper in check. That was something.

"Mind your tone," Drex said mildly. "We both know you care. That's rather the point, I'm afraid. Now, go ahead to our cabin. I'll find some bacta and join you."

Mind my tone! Mind my tone?! The boy snorted at that warning, but that was the extent of his disrespect; he was cruising on the edge of his master's tolerance for an attitude right now, and he wasn't willing to push him too far. He turned on his heel and strode for their cabin, only barely managing not to walk right over Lakhri and through Flynt who were both returning from goyt duty, or to pulverise their cabin's door panel as he entered. He wanted to, he really did! But Drex's consistent lack of tolerance towards his temper had begun to change his behaviour, even if he had yet to link the two.

Drex ignored Kaden's attitude, for now. He fetched some bacta from the medical supplies cabinet and made his way to their cabin. At the door to the corridor, he met Flynt and Lakhri. He asked them to finish preparing lunch since he was going to be busy with Kaden for a while. Lakhri readily agreed. He watched Drex head for his cabin, bacta in hand, and grimaced.

"I take it the lesson didn't go that well," Lakhri said wryly to Flynt. "I just hope for Kaden's sake that he's not in trouble with Drex, too, but from the way he nearly knocked me over, I'm not too sure. C'mon, let's see what we can cook."

"Looks that way," Flynt replied, although his thoughts were with his Jedi aunt. He knew she hated this teaching assignment as much as Kaden did but being the instructor, most of the pressure to get it right rested on her. He said nothing of his thoughts, though; he would seek her out later.

Drex, in the meantime, entered their cabin and closed the door behind himself. He found Kaden lying on his bed, his face buried in his pillow. "First order of business," he said. "Meditation. You may choose to meditate with me or on your own. In any case, you need to get a handle on your frustration or you will spend the rest of this day being spanked. And I assume you want that even less than I do."

Kaden's frown couldn't get much deeper at this point; he was just so angry over losing his lightsaber. Could this day get any more out of control? Apparently, it could.

Drex realised that Kaden was probably not going to be able to do this on his own. And he really was not interested in exacerbating his padawan's troubles any further. Thus, he sat by Kaden's side and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. He also sent a burst of calming energy through their bond. "Take a deep breath and count to ten," he instructed. "Come on. You need to calm down before we continue this talk."

Kaden closed his eyes and screwed up his face, shoving the anger he felt into the Force with each breath until he had counted to ten. Only then did he open his eyes. "I'm calm, I don't need to," he said quietly. Kaden didn't want to meditate. It was somewhat ironic that the times he needed meditation the most were the times he wanted to do it the least!

That was not the answer Drex had wanted to hear. "Padawan, I'm done with tolerating your constant backtalk," he said, and this time, there was nothing mild about his voice. "I told you to meditate. We both know you need to. Your only choice, at this point, is to meditate or to go over my knee and then meditate. Do you absolutely want to do this the hard way? If yes, just say so. If not: meditate. Now."

This had the boy's attention, and he sat up, only to wince. He did not move though; Kaden was stubborn like that. He was also still rather unhappy with his situation and the trouble he'd gotten himself into, but he found himself wanting the comfort of Drex's presence; he'd been through a lot today, and although he wouldn't admit as much, he was struggling to deal with it. "Those aren't very good choices," he admitted. And it was true, they weren't! He shifted on his bed, his ass uncomfortably sore, but he closed his eyes and entered a meditative trance as instructed.

Drex actually believed that meditation was an extremely good choice for Kaden right now. He was frustrated and his frustration was making him volatile and argumentative. He needed to learn that meditation was the best immediate option of dealing with negative emotions because anything else usually meant ending up over his master's knees, eventually.

Drex also recognised Kaden's need for reassurance. He set the bacta aside for the moment, squeezed Kaden's shoulder in a gesture of support and linked with him, helping him release his negative emotions into the Force.

Although Kaden had not asked for help, he had wanted it, so when Drex's presence did not vanish from the room, he was relieved. He readily linked with his master and allowed him to guide him through the process.

When Drex signalled that their meditation was over, Kaden opened his eyes. Naturally, he was a lot calmer now and had the good sense to feel sheepish over his behaviour. He had pushed Drex further than he ought to have, yet the man had been patient with him. Kaden wasn't sure what to say, so, as was typical for him, he said nothing.

"Bare your bottom, please," Drex said. "I would like to give you some bacta. After that, we will have lunch in our room. You need some time to find your bearings." Drex also wanted to judge for himself the results of the punishment Raven had meted out earlier. He did not think she would have gone too far; but he still thought he ought to make sure. Besides, there was further punishment in Kaden's future and Drex wanted to take the current state of the boy's bottom into account.

Kaden complied; bacta was going to go a ways to taking away his discomfort, and he was grateful that his master was allowing it.

Drex took his time administering the bacta, and he used a rather generous amount. Raven had really not gone easy on Kaden at all. It had probably been necessary, though; he needed to learn to accept her authority, once and for all.

When Drex had finished his task, he screwed the jar shut and rose. "Stay here and wait for it to take effect," he said. "I'll fetch our lunch."

Kade lay there without moving until Drex returned with two trays, one with an enormous amount of food, and the other with not so much. His lip pulled into a slight smile. "Thanks," he said, accepting the tray with the most and setting it onto his bed. He didn't want to smudge the bacta all over his sheets, so he ate while laying on his belly.

Drex took a seat at the desk and ate his lunch as well. When he had finished, he said: "It will be our turn to look after the goyts in a moment. I'll take over our shift. You stay here while I do. I think that some quiet reflection will do you good."

"Are you grounding me to my room?" Kade asked, honestly wanting to know as being relieved of his duty with Drex and the goyts sounded a bit that way to him.

"If you want to put it that way," said Drex. "Yes, until dinner. I would really like you to think about your attitude towards your lessons with Raven. It has been abysmal, and you need to find a way to improve it. At least if you want to improve your Ataru skills. And if you want to be able to sit comfortably afterwards."

Kaden had expected to hear as much, so he didn't comment. He wasn't thrilled about being grounded to his room, and he also thought that Raven was being too hard on him. Before Drex could leave, Kaden cleared his throat and said: "Just so you know, I think Raven is being too hard on me, and I'm not just whining or trying to deflect blame here. I'm serious. She used to have patience. Now she just bosses me around all the time."

Drex paused a little, considering this. His impression had been that, if anything, Raven had been too lenient with Kaden, at least at the outset of their lessons. Maybe she had become so annoyed with him that she had become impatient and irritable? That sometimes happened with inexperienced teachers. On the other hand, what Kaden had told him about their lesson had clearly involved a case of serious misbehaviour. Thus, the punishment he had received did not seem undeserved. "Tell me, Kaden," he said, turning back to face his padawan. "If you had acted towards me like you acted in Raven's lesson, would you have expected me to be more lenient than she was?"

"No, but then you are you, and she is she," Kade replied, his gaze now focused on the man. He didn't really want to enter a debate over this. It was rarely productive to argue with Drex.

"True," said Drex calmly. "Which implies, among other things, that I am currently teaching my fourth padawan while she is still trying to find out how teaching works best for her. I suspect what happened is that she tried to get through this whole business of teaching you on friendly terms and eventually realised that this does not work for you – and we both know that to be true. So, she finally became exasperated enough to enforce some rules. It probably would have saved both of you some frustration if she had done so from the outset; but then, like you said, she's your friend, and quite new to teaching padawans as old as you are. And I'm afraid I have to point out that you exploited that fact – probably not consciously, but you exploited it all the same by displaying an attitude that would not have lasted ten minutes with me or with Eeth. Or with Lakhri, for that matter. So, on the whole, my feeling is that Raven being harsh on you is not so much the issue here; the issue is that she only resorted to being strict after having led you to believe that you could get away with your behaviour. Which you should not have from the outset; and I would have thought the punishment you had received before would have made that clear. This afternoon, you might consider thinking about what I said. I might be entirely wrong. If Raven really was too hard on you, we should resolve that issue before she continues teaching you."

Kaden wasn't sure how to respond to that. Firstly because he couldn't provide a legitimate argument to that, and secondly because… Well, he couldn't provide a legitimate argument to that! The boy huffed, dropping his head into his hands. Funnily enough, it wasn't the physical labour aspect or the goyts that were testing Kaden this mission, it was a stupid Ataru class!


	15. Chapter 15

While Kaden was busy feeling sorry for himself, Eeth and Raven were taking care of the goyts. They emptied two sacks of grain into the cribs. Then they fetched buckets of water to fill the troughs. As they did this, Eeth said: "From the way Kaden walked and from the look on his face, I take it your lesson did not go too well."

Water splashed over the side of the trough Raven was filling, but she was quick to correct it and save further flooding. Not that anyone would notice; the goyts were messy critters, really messy! They spread water and food from one end of the cargo bay to the other. Raven stood, empty bucket in hand and stretched her back long before turning to face Eeth. Neither Jedi had spoken of the lesson with Kaden before now.

"Not really," she replied honestly. "He's a pain in the ass. I had to punish him again, I guess you noticed." Raven wasn't proud of herself; if she had handled these lessons right from the get-go, none of this would have been necessary. But they were friends, and it made this a difficult situation as opposed to her regular crèche classes. "Besides, he's problematic," she added. "I told you that before. No doubt this is why he has Drex as a master." Raven hefted another bucket of water, using the Force to augment her effort this time and prevent spillage.

Eeth sensed that Raven was not entirely happy with herself. That would have to be resolved if she was to continue these lessons. Her last comment also had him a little worried. Kaden had already endangered her once when she had meditated with him; he just hoped that the boy was not becoming too much for Raven to handle, in which case he might have to take over these lessons himself. "How is he problematic?" he inquired. "You had better tell me what happened, exactly."

Thinking his question a little too juvenile for her nineteen years of age, but completely unaware that he was doubting her ability, Raven met him with a neutral and unimpressed expression. She clicked her tongue when this garnered the typical response from Eeth, namely an unamused one, and began talking. She explained how Kade had been pushing her, and how she had decided to push back, literally. "I held nothing back, I really gave it to him. I thought this would work to demonstrate that power is not everything, that I know what I'm doing!"

She busied herself stacking water buckets so she didn't have to keep eye contact as she told him the rest. "I hurt him a bit, and he lost his temper again, using the Force to shove me backwards. It was powerful and might have done damage had I been less experienced. Obviously, I couldn't let that slide." She paused in her duty and turned to watch Eeth work as she continued the story. "When I attempted to correct him for that, he refused to submit to it so I did the only thing I could do, namely, I went to find one of you. This got his attention." Raven explained how he had come chasing after her and convinced her to give him another chance. Then, she went on to tell Eeth how she had dealt with him. "I'm pretty sure there is some unwritten law about hitting a kid with their own belt," Raven said, trying to lighten the tone of the woeful tale she had just burdened Eeth with.

"If there is, I am not aware of it," said Eeth, completely disregarding the attempt at humour. He was busy thinking over what Raven had told him. "It sounds to me as if he deserved to be punished," he finally said. "Do you think you handled the situation appropriately? Or are you in doubt? You seem as if you are, and I am wondering why that is." No matter what Raven's reply was, he resolved to talk to Drex about this. Hopefully Kaden had confessed to the man already. Eeth doubted that Drex would be happy with the Force push, in particular; it was definitely something that any master would call their padawan to task for. Even then, though, Eeth was also going to talk to Kaden. He had now twice acted in a way that might have become dangerous to Raven, had her mental discipline been a little less firm, and this could not be allowed to continue.

Raven had learned early on in her apprenticeship that Eeth did not possess much of a sense of humour. Thus, his deadpan response to her efforts made her smile slightly, despite the topic. "He did deserve it, and I'm not in doubt. I can handle him. It's my duty," Raven replied semi-confidently. Sure there were complications, issues that she wouldn't usually have with a typical class due to the fact that Kaden was her friend, but they would get through this.

Eeth straightened up and looked at her. "Then why," he inquired, "do you sound as if you are not convinced? If you honestly tell me that you can handle Kaden, I will believe you. Yes, it is your duty, and yes, I know that you will fulfil it to the best of your ability. But something is bothering you. And I want to know what that is."

Raven noted his change in posture as well as the slight deepening of his tone, and she went from watching him work to crouching by the goyt babies. It would be unwise to shrug him off, as much as the teenager wanted to do so, but how could she explain something she wasn't quite sure of herself? She folded and unfolded her arms, and then began to stroke the ears of the baby that had started climbing all over her. "I don't know. He says I'm being bossy, that I'm picking on him. The thing is, to begin with I wasn't, but now I'm not as patient. He's trying my last nerve, and maybe I'm a bit short with him because of that." She threw her hands up in the air in a show of frustration that Eeth would not have seen in several years. "I don't like this teaching assignment," she said in conclusion. It sounded lame even to her.

"I know," Eeth said surprisingly gently. "But at the same time, I think it is helping you learn. Kaden has been exploiting your patience. Yours was an approach that might have worked for some padawans, but from what I know about him, it does not work for Kaden. So you changed your approach, which was really the only sensible option, but of course he perceives that as unjust. I do not think it is, though. Any Jedi teacher would have punished him soundly for his behaviour in your lessons. And none of your reactions qualifies as unduly harsh to me. Harsh, yes; but then, he Force-pushed you, and that is really not something any teacher would condone."

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "If I were you, I would talk to him," he said. "Explain why your approach changed and why it is going to stay that way. My more immediate concern, though, is with his aggression, which he has already turned against you twice. He is very strong in the Force. So far, you have handled his outbursts well. Are you sure that this will continue to be the case?"

As Eeth spoke, Raven felt less like she had overstepped her boundaries and more justified in her actions. She scooped up the runt baby who had accidentally rolled from its nest, pausing to reassure the mother, and stood, baby cradled in the crook of an elbow. Raven knew that if Eeth wasn't finding fault with her behaviour, then there was none to be had, and it was with that in mind that she mustered a confident expression.

"I don't know. He's a lot stronger both physically and through the Force, but I have more experience and a lot more control. I wouldn't want to take on another of his meditations, I'm leaving that to Drex, but I'm more confident than not that I can defend myself from any outbursts." She pushed the ears of the baby goyt back with her index finger as apparently, they liked this. "We're friends, and that is complicating things. It's not easy for me to teach him and it's not easy for him to accept it. He knows this, I've spoken to him about it before, and I'm not sure what else I can say to him that will make this any easier on either of us. What I do know is that if you or Drex step in on my behalf, it's going to undermine any authority I've managed to build." Raven lowered her gaze, slightly embarrassed at having so much trouble with something so trivial. She cradled the baby in an arm, the tiny Force presence positively purring under her ministration. Well, at least this part of their mission was going as planned…

"You are probably right on that account," said Eeth, "although I am rather certain that Drex will have called Kaden to task for his behaviour, regardless of what you meted out. After all, Kaden has turned his aggression against you before and it has been made quite clear to him that this is unacceptable."

As far as his intention to talk to Kaden was concerned, he was rethinking it. It was his protectiveness of Raven that was driving him, he realised; but possibly, this was not in Raven's best interest. She was nineteen, after all, and needed to do some things on her own, without his interference.

"I will not talk to Drex or Kaden unless you want me to," he finally said. He did not like it; he would have preferred to make sure Kaden was duly wary of antagonising Raven any further. But he knew that Raven was right; Kaden ought to come to respect Raven's authority, not just Eeth's.

"Thank you, Master," Raven told him sincerely. "I can't stop Master Zaryth from punishing Kaden. Force, if any padawan of mine did that I'd punish them too." Raven set the baby goyt down with its family and stood to face him. "But that you won't interfere is appreciated because I need to work this out myself. Kaden might need extra guidance, but I'm pretty sure he's getting that." Raven remembered her one run-in with Drex. It had not been fun and was not something the teenager ever wanted to endure again. Ever! Thus, she knew Kaden was unlikely to be getting through this sans consequences.

Raven fiddled with the hem on her tunic, something she had not done in a very long time. "I'll do better," she said when her own awkwardness forced her to add more to their conversation. It wasn't really a valid comment; Raven knew that her actions, although a little on the bossy side, had not been wrong. Still, a humble approach had always worked best with Eeth.

"Padawan, there is no need to feel inadequate," Eeth said mildly. "You are still in the process of finding your own way of doing things, and Kaden is not an easy student. I know you are doing your best. And that goes for this whole mission. I could not have expected more of you. You are growing into a very accomplished Jedi, and your commitment is exemplary. By all means stop feeling as if you did wrong. That was not the reason for which I initiated this talk. I was merely … worried about you. But that was more my protectiveness speaking than any failure on your part."

Hearing such praise from Eeth was rare, and she blushed slightly at receiving it. "You were worried about me?" the teen questioned, half rhetorical and half not, using the question to cover the fact that she was trying to accept his praise with humility. Not to mention the fact that she was honestly surprised that he was admitting he felt protectiveness for her; expressing emotions was not generally his strong suit although he had come a long way in the last seven years. "I'm sure Kaden doesn't do it on purpose. He's just a pain in the ass is all. I bet Drex has his hands full putting up with him." Raven gave him a wry grin and put two hands behind her lower back to stretch since even after all these years she still found the confines of space travel bothersome.

"Oh, I think he is fairly well-behaved with Drex for the most part these days," said Eeth. "And he has much improved since he started his apprenticeship. He merely has some issues he needs to work on, just like you do. School work is less of a problem with him than it ever was with you; on the other hand, he has more difficulties containing his aggressions. If you feel exasperated at his failure to accept your authority like he ought to, just think of the trouble you used to get into with some of your teachers when you were younger. Such as Master Granzien. Or Professor Kogan. I seem to remember that I ended up threatening to enrol you in her classes for the entire remainder of your padawanhood."

A slight smile grew on the teen's face and slowly morphed into a snort and then a chuckle. "I maintain that Kogan had a steel poker inserted up her backside at birth." Her smile dropped a tiny bit, though, at the memory of Granzien's animal husbandry class and the Cheedy Chicken debacle. Eeth had caned the backside clean off her for releasing a bunch of cage hens on a farm during a field trip and wreaking havoc for the farm in general. Raven cleared her throat because even after seven years, she was unable to joke about the punishment that incident had earned her. She coughed. "Well, maybe," and turned her attention back to the goyts. It was almost time for their shift to end.

* * *

Drex, in the meanwhile, had talked to Lakhri and Flynt. When he noticed that his shift was coming up, he excused himself and stood.

"I'll need to relieve Eeth and Raven now," he said. "Kaden will be spending the afternoon in his room."

"Lesson didn't go too well, then?" Lakhri inquired. He had already been wondering about the boy's absence, but had assumed he might be doing school work.

"No," said Drex with a small smile. "This is not easy for him. And I know it is not easy for Raven either. But I think it will teach both of them some things in the long run."

Raven would have agreed with Drex's summation; Eeth never forced her to do something without good reason.

Kaden, however, didn't care if this was in his best interest, especially not right now while his ass still hosted the fires of Mustafar. The longer he was left to stew, the more his indignation over it all grew. When his master re-entered to check on him hours later, he was all set to unleash his feelings. Fortunately for him, the mere sight of the man was enough to defeat his rebellion. He really didn't want a run-in with that brush tonight. In fact, the mere thought was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Kaden wasn't the begging sort; instead, he resorted to silent brooding.

This brooding silence stretched on. Kaden could sometimes be like a dog with a bone when it came to his pride and the acceptance of consequences. He sulked quietly over dinner, drawing attention from the other team members and only offering scowls in return.

Flynt had a notion of why the boy was ticked. Then again, he'd suffered through his own trials and like every padawan, he thought his own master was terrifying enough to make any sulking on the part of a peer irrelevant – the possible exception to that being Eeth who possessed both limited tolerance for misbehaviour and was entirely harsh.

Raven would agree with that! Thus, Kaden's sulking was met with a frown and the same impatience that was typical of the way she treated the boy lately. "Knock it off already, you're making everyone miserable. You've no one to blame but yourself," she told him after Flynt had tried to engage him again only to have the boy sulk and brood in response.

"You don't get to bully me out here, save that for our lessons," Kaden told her, his tone malicious. He hadn't meant for it to sound nasty; he was merely a fifteen-year-old teen feeling sad and sorry for himself, and taking that out on everyone else.

Raven didn't care what the underlying cause was, she'd had enough of him for one day. Both apprentices stood, Raven first. Then, not to be outshone, Kaden quickly reciprocating, sending his chair skidding backwards; they were going to kill each other. Raven's fists balled, her jaw clenched, and she squared off; their meal completely forgotten as were the possible repercussions of beating the tar out of her fellow padawan.

Lakhri raised his eyebrows and leaned back in order to watch the fireworks, knowing that it would take neither Eeth nor Drex more than a second to react. He was not disappointed. Both masters rose simultaneously; Eeth abruptly, as he did when he was entirely not pleased, and Drex in his usual unhurried manner.

Flynt followed Lakhri's lead and lent backwards into his chair. He wasn't interested in witnessing the 'fireworks' but given the reaction from Lakhri, he wasn't in the slightest bit surprised when both older masters stood to intervene.

"Padawan, go to our room," Eeth snapped, his glare making clear that he expected to be obeyed instantly. "Meditate. I will be with you in a moment."

"The same goes for you, Kaden," said Drex calmly. "Go."

Raven looked from Kaden to Drex and then to Eeth, her expression morphing from that of irritation to one of fear. "Yes, master," she replied, and despite wanting to kill the kid, she put her fork down onto the plate, pushed in her chair and, after offering a bow, excused herself and left to do as told.

Kaden watched her go, his injured pride still smarting. He wasn't angry, he knew better than that; he was humiliated. "I'm sick of being bossed around and told off by her!" he snapped as he watched the object of his ire retreat to her room.

Drex stepped around the table, took Kaden's upper arm, bent him over and brought his hand down onto the boy's bottom as hard as he could. Given that Kaden was wearing pants, it was probably not all that excruciatingly painful, but it was enough to get his attention, plus it was doubtlessly rather embarrassing.

"I gave you an order, padawan," he said, his tone of voice rather less placid than it normally was. He brought his hand down a second time. "I'm not interested in what you're sick of, I'm interested in being obeyed," he pointed out. "Are you going to, or shall I continue this?"

Both Raven and Flynt winced at the sound of that smack; Raven vicariously as she disappeared into her room and Flynt firsthand.

"Dude…" Flynt said, shaking his head when a second's silence was stretching into several.

Kaden swallowed. Drex was correct on one count, it was horribly embarrassing. It had also hurt. "Ah!" he hissed as the two smacks landed, his hand coming back briefly before returning to the table. "No, I'll go, I'll GO!" he replied through gritted teeth. He knew what was in store for him should he continue to buck the man's authority and he wasn't keen on providing further entertainment any more than he was willing to endure more pain. A moment later, he was on his feet and storming off towards his cabin. Kaden was not taking this in good grace.

Flynt stabbed at a piece of Kaden's discarded sausage, shoving it in his mouth. "Waste not want not?"

Drex sat back down. "Serve yourself," he said. "I will finish my dinner before I deal with this any further."

Eeth nodded and sat down as well. It was surprising how often he and Drex were thinking along the same lines, considering how different they were in many respects. In any case, he did not see why his padawan's lack of self-control should spoil his dinner.

"You sure it's a good idea to force them to continue these lessons?" Lakhri asked both masters noncommittally, picking up his fork again.

"Yes," said Drex and Eeth simultaneously. They paused for a moment; Drex smiled.

"I know how difficult this is, for both of them," Eeth explained. "Raven would have an easier time teaching a younger padawan and one that she does not know, and Kaden doubtlessly would fare better with you or me as a teacher. However, in real life, on actual missions, things will not always be that easy and clear-cut. Raven might find herself in a position of authority over Jedi not much younger than her, or even older; and there might be friends among them. She needs to learn to deal with this, without doubts and ambiguities."

Drex nodded. "And Kaden will have to learn to cope with being at the other end of the hierarchy in such situations," he said. "Raven is in authority over him, and he will have to come to accept that. As usual, his pride is getting in the way. And I don't think it would be a good idea to allow him to indulge it."

"Yeah, I think I see the point," Lakhri said thoughtfully. "Flynt, you wanna take lessons with Raven as well?"

Seeing the uncomprehending expression on Eeth's face, he burst out laughing. "I was just joking," he said. "It's not as if I have it in for Raven. And, Flynt, you're much less prideful than Kaden to start with, I have to say."

Flynt remained silent as the three masters spoke, but he shot Lakhri a brief frown at his joke. "No comment," the teenager replied diplomatically and stuffed another wad of food into his mouth. He wasn't getting into this.

Meanwhile, Raven was feeling rotten. She moved directly to the far wall by her bunk, knelt, put her hands behind her back and started to meditate; she couldn't BELIEVE! she had let that little shit get to her! Was she twelve again? She let her head thunk into the wall; Eeth was going to think she was a youngling all over again!

Eeth and Drex made a point of finishing their dinner in their own time. When everyone was done eating, Lakhri said wryly: "I suppose Flynt and I had better take care of cleaning up."

"Thank you," said Eeth and rose. Drex gave Lakhri a small smile and followed suit.

When Eeth entered their room, he found Raven meditating as he had instructed her, which was no more than he had expected. "You may get up, padawan," he told her in an even tone of voice. He pulled out the desk chair, sat down and pointed her towards the lower bunk. "I sincerely hope that you know why your behaviour was unacceptable," he said curtly. "Tell me."

Tell him? The padawan cringed as she sat. She didn't want to tell him! Her brow furrowed and she swallowed in an effort to muster some courage. "I got angry at Kaden, more so than I should have as a peer or teacher. Deserved or not, it wasn't acceptable to lash out at him. I'm sorry, master." She scrunched up her face and crossed her feet. "Don't. Please..."

"You should not have allowed him to provoke you," Eeth said sternly, completely ignoring her plea. "You are well able to exercise more self-control than this. His attitude was entirely uncalled for and he richly deserved being called to task for it, but you might safely have left that to Drex."

His scrutinising gaze rested on her face for several long moments. "Alright, padawan," he finally said. "To your credit, you obeyed me immediately, you admitted to your mistake, you apologised and you did not try to make excuses. Nonetheless, you behaved in a manner that comes very close to picking a fight; and a fight is what might have happened, had Drex and I not intervened. I will not have it, neither as your master nor as the head of this mission team." He rose and turned the chair around. "Bend over," he ordered unceremoniously.

As Eeth spoke, any hopes that she would get out of this sans punishment began to wither. Eeth rarely praised her for expected obedience these days. That said, nor did she normally lose her composure as spectacularly as she once did. Raven squinted her eyes shut tightly and let out a whimper; she was nineteen now, but that just meant she knew what to fear. She dragged her feet towards the chair and placed herself over the backrest, her hands gripping the edges of the seat tightly.

Given Raven's compliance, Eeth decided to be relatively lenient. He did not tell Raven to bare her bottom, which was something he rarely dispensed with; and he was not using an implement either. Both were privileges he would not have granted a padawan who refused to obey and, when being forced, stomped off in bad grace; he did not imagine that Kaden was faring all too well with that kind of behaviour right now…

But Kaden was not his concern; Raven was. Eeth held Raven down with his left, raised his right hand and brought it down onto his padawan's bottom a dozen times in a steady rhythm, hard. It was by far not the worst he could have handed out, but it was certainly not a token punishment either. Eeth was not the type to mete out token punishments. When he had completed the dozen, he released his hold on Raven and said: "You may stand up."

Raven knew that Eeth was sans paddle, but his hand felt like a damn board; it always did. Thus, when it cracked down onto her small backside, clothed or not, the teen gasped. "Mhmmphuf! Ah, OW!" came the breathless replies to the last few smacks that landed, her face scrunching tightly with each. It had hurt, a lot, but not as badly as she knew it could. It was with that in mind that the teen swiped a hand under her nose, rose and met Eeth's gaze, dry-eyed. "Master… Ow." She rubbed frantically but made it brief, forbearing to hop around as she might have once. She wasn't angry with Eeth; she was, however, not pleased at having been spanked at nineteen years old and it showed on her face.

"Padawan," Eeth said softly. "You have been doing well with Kaden so far. Pull yourself together and carry on. By rising to his provocations and gearing up for a fight with him, you will not earn his respect. On the contrary." He pulled Raven into a hug. "I doubt, though," he said with a rare show of wry humour, "that Kaden has any time right now to think about whether he respects you or not."

* * *

… That much was true. Drex had had more than enough of his padawan's attitude and he intended to put a stop to it once and for all. Thus, as he entered their cabin, the expression on his face was uncharacteristically grim.

Kaden was lying on his bed to meditate. When Drex slid open their door, he noted guiltily that the mechanism was delayed, possibly from how hard he'd repeatedly hit the door panel. He was really doing poorly at controlling his temper lately. It wasn't only disgracing himself, it was also reflecting badly on his master. Drex didn't deserve that. The self-pity lasted until he saw the grim expression on the man's face. Fuck. He stood, hands raised, only to lower them again and back up a pace. The problem with that was that the backs of his knees were already pressing into his bunk and he didn't have anywhere to back up to. So he did the only thing he could do: he started begging. "I'm sorry, truly sorry. I won't lose my temper ever again. I swear to all that is sacred that if you let me off I'll not ever do it again. Please master, I can't take another smacking." Kaden would do just about anything to spare himself pain, although for a boy who hated corporal punishment as much as he did, he had a funny way of showing it lately. He just couldn't keep himself out of trouble!

"Stop it, Kaden," Drex ordered firmly. "Your behaviour has been disgraceful, both in your lesson with Raven and during dinner, and you will be soundly punished for it. You have allowed your pride to rule you and I will not have that. Never have, never will. You knew that perfectly well, so if you wanted to avoid punishment, you should simply have behaved accordingly. We are way past the point where your show of contrition will do you any good. Bare your bottom and bend over the chair. I give you thirty seconds. If you take longer, I will add to your punishment."

Drex was not exactly running out of patience here; it was more that he felt it wouldn't do Kaden any good right now to be treated with patience. He would just keep arguing and prolonging the agony.

"No, please!" Kade continued to beg. However, the threat of additional pain had the boy rushing to comply, his hands groping for his belt. He had just managed to fumble it off and was starting on the clasp of his trousers when the sound of a door sliding closed outside, and a single set of heavy, precise footsteps next door, caught his attention. Suddenly he felt sorry for more than himself. His behaviour had probably landed Raven in the shit also. Eeth was not to be fucked with. Then again, she deserved it; she'd been bossing him around! He frowned, his thoughts evoking a sense of misplaced righteousness. He was giving himself whiplash here, as when there was no lighter set of footsteps following Eeth's from their room, he had to wonder why. Was she grounded, did Eeth kick her ass? He wasn't sure but he started to feel bad all over again. The thought didn't last long, though, as Drex cleared his throat, effectively drawing his attention to the fact that he had about ten seconds to bare his bottom and bend over. He did so quickly just as the half minute ticked past.

"I believe I told you tonight's spanking would be with the hairbrush, instead of the paddle, for your refusal to hand me your lightsaber when I asked for it," Drex said. "In light of recent events, I have decided to add a dozen strokes with the belt. Raven is not 'bossing you around', she is your teacher giving you instructions. Any further complaints about that fact, whether in the form of temper tantrums, whining or sulking, and your backside will pay an immediate price. I am done tolerating this attitude of yours. All of us are. Now, wait a moment."

Wait, what? Oh hell no, no! The boy panicked but managed to keep any protestations to himself for now. He absolutely did not want to make this any worse.

When Drex returned, hairbrush in hand, his sense of the Force told him how Kaden was positioned. To get a precise aim, he did the same Eeth had done to Raven, resting his left hand on the small of Kaden's back. Then he raised his right arm and brought the hairbrush down in a heavy swat that rang off the walls of the cabin.

"Ahhoww!" the kid wailed. His hips slammed forward in an effort to put more distance between his ass and the brush. It was no use. With an undetermined number of smacks with the brush and twelve with his belt to look forward to, Kaden threw back his hands. "How many?" he needed to know. He couldn't possibly take this stoically without knowing when his pain would end. He just couldn't.

"As many as I think you deserve," Drex said, a hint of steel in his voice. "Put your hands back in front of you. I will use the Force to restrain you if you don't have enough self-control to stay still."

As willful and headstrong as the boy could be, he was not stupid; disobeying Drex during punishment reliably resulted in one outcome: more pain, a lot more pain! Consequently, his hand was removed immediately and placed back on the chair where he took a death grip on the seat with both hands. "No! OW! Ow! NO! OOWWwahOW!" And so it continued. With each smack of the brush he rose a little higher on his toes, his bottom clenched tightly and his cries increasing in both volume and length until they melted into one long, agonised howl. Kaden wasn't as tall as Drex or Eeth and was utterly dwarfed by Flynt (they all were, for that matter), but he was far more solidly built than any of them. He had once hoped that his solid, muscular frame would spare him some pain, somehow better equip him to handle it physically, but it didn't, not at all.

Drex used the Force to make sure Kaden did not get up and then busied himself swinging the brush. He made every swat count, and he dealt out several dozen of them. There was no fixed number of swats he had in mind; rather, he adapted the length of the spanking to Kaden's reaction, and that meant, in this case, that he was not going to stop before Kaden was as sorry as he could possibly be. Only when the boy was reduced to sobbing did he pause, lay the hairbrush aside and start to undo his belt.

By the time Drex relented, Kaden was bawling for all he was worth, or so he thought… His cries could still ratchet a notch or two, though, as he found out when he heard the sound of Drex unbuckling his belt. "No! N-NO! Please!" the boy wailed. Unabashed, he started to struggle, his earlier lesson in compliance forgotten courtesy of the panic that was now gripping him. He couldn't take a belting! Drex had only ever given him a few licks with his belt before, an experience that had been permanently etched into his mind; if a few hurt, twelve was going to be unbearable. He tried to stand but found he couldn't. As strong in the Force as he was, breaking Drex's hold over him would require concentration as opposed to raw ability. The latter he possessed, the former, it just wasn't happening. "You can't. You can't!"

"Oh, but I will," Drex said implacably. "Your attitude has been appalling. I have tried my best to convince you to settle down without going this far, but you obviously weren't interested. You knew exactly what to expect for disobedience, temper tantrums, indulging your pride and, above all, using the Force in ways that might endanger your instructor, but you chose to ignore that. Now you're paying the price, and I'm not going to make any bargains." By this point, he had taken the utilities off his belt, including his and Kaden's lightsabers, and placed them on the desk. Then he doubled the belt over in his hand and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom smartly – by far not at full force, of course, but he doubted that Kaden was going to notice.

Yes, Kaden knew what to expect but that didn't mean he had to like it, just that he had to do his best to accept it. Well, that was easier said than done. He arched his back at that first lick, kicked his legs back at the second and by the fifth he was squirming uncontrollably. He couldn't help it. "Stop! P-please STOP!" he wailed but received no clemency, just another hard whack of the belt that seemed hell-bent on branding itself, maker's moniker and all, across his ass. "Owwww!" He'd have shot upright in an instant if only he could do more than wriggle around. The noise emanating from the boy would have been enough to deafen the entire ship, although he was pretty sure his master prevented that humiliation. It was a small mercy. Not that the distress he was radiating through the Force was going to be overlooked by their team; his shields were down and his agony palpable.

Drex did his best to shield the rest of the team from that as well, but he was sure it would still be noticeable. Then again, nobody was likely to be particularly surprised about the fact that Kaden was just receiving some serious punishment. And this was possibly among the most serious punishments Kaden had ever received. After all, he was fifteen now and they were on a mission. Drex simply expected a lot more self-control from him than he had shown, and he expressed his displeasure through the determination with which he swang the belt.

When he had completed the dozen, his left hand left Kaden's back. Drex took his time reattaching his belt and utilities and rearranging his clothing. Only then did he release the Force restraint on his padawan.

The second that last smack cracked across his ass, the boy tried to spring up and rub, but found that he still couldn't move. He was crying too hard to form coherent sentences which meant he wasn't left with a choice; he'd have to wait until Drex let him up. The time it took Drex to put his belt back on seemed to stretch on for an eternity and prolonged his agony. All he wanted to do was rub his ass! When finally he was able to move, the kid jumped to his feet and started bouncing around. Both his hands immediately shot to his blazing ass cheeks. He went up on his toes and arched his back, his face contorted with pain. He didn't care that his junk was swinging around in the breeze, or that he was failing to take this like a man. "Fuck, it hurts!" he managed between sobs. He was pretty sure that Drex had never smacked him this hard before. Apparently, he was lethal with a belt; it was a hard lesson but not something he was going to forget any time soon.

Drex left Kaden to his jumping and rubbing for a moment. He went to put the hairbrush back in its usual place in the bathroom and returned with a couple of handkerchiefs. He handed them to Kaden and, when it seemed that the boy was calming down, he pulled him into a hug. "I know it hurts," he said sympathetically. "Do you see why you might have deserved it, though? Or do I need to explain?"

The handkerchief and hug were both accepted, the hug a little stiffly as Kade had not yet forgiven Drex for dealing out such a memorable punishment. He pulled back and blew his nose. Then, after kicking off his boxer shorts, he carefully pulled his trousers back up. The pain had settled into a steady burn by now, which was good because it meant it wasn't going to build any more. Kaden pouted at the floor, his arms folded across his chest. He didn't want to sit, he couldn't! So standing was the only option right now. "You didn't have to do it so hard," was his sullen response to Drex's question. Both hands were still rubbing at the seat of his trousers, and he could feel the heat off his ass radiating through the material.

"That," said Drex, "you will leave up to me to decide." His normally serene voice was hard as he said it, which was quite a rare occurrence and told Kaden that he was treading on very thin ice here. "I asked you a question," he told Kaden. "I have not received a satisfactory answer. In fact, I have not received an answer at all, only another complaint. Under the circumstances, that means you're asking for even more trouble than you've already been in tonight." He pointed at the floor. "Start doing push-ups," he ordered. "Maybe some physical activity will help you come up with an idea of what, exactly, was wrong with your behaviour to earn you such a spectacular punishment." He was entirely serious, too.

Okay, so Kade had not expected that. The boy's mouth gaped open, and he looked from Drex's finger to the spot it indicated on the floor. Unwilling to disobey, he let out a groan, kicked at the floor and knelt to begin. He didn't want to do this. He was still pissed off over having gotten the belting of his young life; it was still hurting, a lot! Deciding to try getting out of this, he looked up at the man. "I deserved it because I can't lose my temper like that, it's dangerous," he tried while holding himself in a high push-up position, without beginning to perform actual push-ups.

"Yes, that's a start," Drex said, pleased that this method seemed to be working. He would not feel comfortable with punishing Kaden's bottom any further, so he had resorted to a different type of discipline – with apparent success.

"Go on," he told Kaden. "Push-ups. Let's see if they help you come up with more reasons than that because there are. Quite a number of them."

Again, the boy groaned, only this time it was because he'd failed to get out of it despite having given what he considered an acceptable answer. Resigned, he started working. Kaden was muscular and heavy-set so push-ups, in the short term, weren't going to pose much of a problem for him. They would, however, cause him pain if Drex kept him at it for too long, something he was all too aware of. "It's not Jedi-like, and you ordered me not to lose my temper," he said quickly, trying to get out the right answers before his arms started aching.

"Yes," said Drex. He turned around the chair over which Kaden had bent a few minutes ago and sat down as if he had all the time in the world, which he did. "And what caused you to display such behaviour, despite knowing full well that it is unacceptable?" he inquired.

"My temper," Kaden replied a little too quickly; he wasn't enjoying this at all.

"If you absolutely don't want to make an effort," Drex said, leaning back in his chair, "that's your own choice. Feel free to continue doing push-ups, then. Alternatively, you might think about what caused your temper. And what caused me to hand out not only a punishment, but one that you will hopefully remember for a long time."

"I am making an effort!" Kade said with exasperation as he forced himself to continue. He wasn't in discomfort yet but knew that once he got into the triple digits, it was going to become another story. A small film of sweat that had formed while enduring the belting from hell reappeared across his forehead as he concentrated. What else was he supposed to say? "I lost my temper because…" He stopped just before blurting out that Raven was bossing him around. He swallowed and swiped his forehead on his shirt; he was starting to get hot now and wished he'd had the good sense to take off his shirt before starting this. "Because I let my frustration get to me and used the Force to take it out on Raven which is dangerous, and why you whipped me within an inch of my life with the belt from hell," he said in a run-on sentence, the last word of which came out with a grunt as his weaker arm started to feel the strain of repeated effort. It was an exaggeration, of course. He was still very much alive. However, at the time he'd thought it touch and go.

"And you were frustrated because…?" Drex asked leisurely, propping his left foot on his right knee. If Kaden could either not see or not admit that it was his pride – and his resulting resentful attitude towards his Ataru lessons – that was the issue here, that was just too bad for him.

"Because…" Well, he didn't know why. Or, he did but wasn't sure how to put it. He thought for a while, but the longer he took, the harder his work got and the slower he started to move. "Because the lesson was frustrating me. I don't know what you want me to say, just tell me so I can say it and stop? Please."

"No, you know exactly why the lesson was frustrating you," Drex said firmly. "You simply don't want to admit it, possibly not even to yourself. If I had asked Eeth to teach you, instead of Raven, I'm sure the lessons would have been harder, but a lot less frustrating to you. Why?"

"Because Eeth isn't a girl who's meant to be my friend and who I find it hard to take orders from," Kaden grunted.

"And why," asked Drex relentlessly, "would there be anything wrong with finding it hard to take orders from her – and acting on that, instead of trying to conquer that sentiment?"

Kaden's ass hurt, it really did, and now his arms were burning to boot. All he wanted to do was stop and rub the burn out of his arms, but he didn't dare disobey Drex again. "Because it's prideful. Jedi don't let their pride interfere with their duty." It had been hard for him to say, and he hoped it was enough because he honestly didn't know what else the man wanted to hear from him.

"You know," Drex said when Kaden was struggling through another push-up, "one day you might find yourself on a mission where a Jedi not much older than you, possibly even a friend, is in charge of you. And if your pride gets in the way of your duty then, it might turn out to be fatal. You have to understand that when someone is in authority over you, you obey. Period. That's a lesson you need to learn, and you need to learn it now. You got into huge trouble twice over exactly the same kind of issue. There will be no third time, not if I have a say in it. Am I making myself clear?"

Kaden was struggling now; he'd lost his mental tally at around eighty. His arms were burning, his ass was burning, and if that wasn't bad enough, the lecture Drex was hitting him with was making him feel worse. He sniffled once, but held it back; he wasn't going to start crying over this. He knew he had issues with authority, and that this was something he had to constantly work on. He pushed out another two before the question registered. The expected: "Yes, master," that followed was noticeably pained. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. The cost was just too high, not to mention the fact that he could have prevented losing his shit with Raven. All he had to do was tell her he needed help and she'd have gone for Drex, he knew that.

Drex saw that he was finally getting through to Kaden. "Good," he said calmly. "Then you may stop now. Tomorrow morning, I want you to apologise to everyone for your behaviour, and to Raven individually for your attitude during your lessons with her. I don't care how humiliating you find it, you will do it unless you want a repeat of tonight."

The second those words left the man's mouth, Kaden flopped onto his stomach. After all, he wasn't about to try sitting down again. His arms were competing with his ass, and his face scrunched from the pain. What Drex said next had him on his feet and ready to protest, but fortunately for him, the rest of those words sank in, and he closed his mouth again. Would he honestly repeat this tomorrow night? The notion was simply too horrifying to bear and both his hands came back to cover his backside at the thought. He swiped at his eyes. He wasn't crying, but much to his consternation, tears had started to form once again. He remained silent, brooding over this turn of events. His master was being entirely too hard on him, or so he thought then. In years to come, he'd thank the man for his approach.

Drex knew that Kaden thought him too harsh. And he did not enjoy doing this to his apprentice; but he was convinced of the necessity, were Kaden ever to become a Jedi Knight. He came to stand next to Kaden and rested a gentle hand on his back. "I know you're hurting, and probably not happy with me," he said softly. "I would rather have avoided that. But my priority is to prevent you from failing to reach knighthood. Not to torture you, as you have been known to claim."

He thought about how to proceed from here. Today, Kaden had crossed several lines, repeatedly, and when it should have been abundantly clear that there would be repercussions. He had not had such a streak in a long time but it had been known to happen in earlier years. And when it had, any lenience that Drex had shown Kaden had reliably backfired. Drex had come to the conclusion that Kaden sometimes needed him to follow a zero-tolerance policy. He had once done so where their workouts were concerned; and now, Drex thought it was high time to tackle Kaden's foolish pride that way.

"Padawan, if your pride is getting in your way as much as is the case during this mission," he told Kaden, "this cannot be allowed to continue. From here on, and at least until the end of this mission, any amount of obstinacy, attitude, temper tantrums, disobedience and disrespect will have immediate consequences. There will be no warnings. You need to pull yourself together and make a real effort at conquering your pride. And until I see such an effort, I will provide deterrents. Do you understand?"

As Drex spoke, Kaden slowly regained his equilibrium. His tears were drying up, his arms had stopped burning, and he was feeling less like he wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. Pity his ass wasn't following suit; that still stung and burned as badly as it had before. His gaze snapped up at hearing the man's closing statement. Kaden knew what that meant, and he didn't like it. Sure, it was effective in changing his behaviour, but copping a physical reminder at each failure was a hard way to learn. "No, please. I'll do better. I will!" he pleaded. However, the truth was, Kaden wasn't sure he could do this without Drex's guidance, as unwelcome as that guidance could be at times.

"Oh, please do," Drex replied, unfazed. "What I said still stands, though. Whether I have to follow through with it will depend entirely on you."

"But we're on a mission, a crowded mission! What can I do to prove that I've learned and you don't need to do this?" Kaden was careful to keep his tone respectful. If Drex was employing a zero-tolerance policy on his attitude, he needed to start really watching how he acted.

"Simple," said Drex. "Don't act up and I won't need to spank you."

As far as Kaden was concerned, there was nothing simple about that. He rarely, if ever, acted up on purpose, he just seemed to get himself into it somehow. Yeah, that was how it happened... The boy's face scrunched in obvious discomfort, not that Drex could see it, but he did not argue further. He might not be happy with Drex or his proclamation, but nor did he blame him, not really. "I don't mean to lose my temper. I know it's dangerous. I don't want to be a danger to people." He meant that, too. Kaden was powerful and he knew that if he ever truly let himself go, he could do some serious damage, not just to others but to himself, too. He was starting to feel like the only thing standing between him and the Dark Side was his master's commitment not to let him fall. The thought was sobering. He was beginning to spiral in his own self-pity, so he did the only thing he knew would work: he reached out both physically and through the Force, wanting the comfort of a hug as well as the safety to let his emotions go.

Drex readily responded to Kaden's unspoken need, wrapping his arms around him and linking with him through the Force. He opened his shields and invited Kaden to let go of his emotions. Channelling Kaden's negative emotions into the Force was often hard work, for both of them; harder than it had been with any of Drex's previous apprentices, with the possible exception of Taishin. But Drex had never shirked away from it. He knew that Kaden needed it; and what was more, he was consistently teaching Kaden to ask for it when his anger or frustration were threatening to take over. Kaden was making a lot of progress, but he was not quite there yet, which was why his lightsaber was currently dangling from Drex's belt. And Drex was under no illusion that this was going to be the last time. The important thing was that Kaden was making an effort, though, and he was – most of the time. When he was not, he could rely on Drex to force him, unpleasant though that might be.


	16. Chapter 16

The remainder of their trip to Lucia went without issue. Kaden, to his horror, had acquiesced – not that he had a choice – and delivered a satisfactory apology to everyone the following morning. Shortly after that, he had been sent off with Raven for their Ataru lesson where again, the boy made a humble apology. He didn't actually need to try hard on that one as he honestly felt bad about what he had done, about what he could have done to her.

"Landing in twenty minutes," came Flynt's creepily robotic voice over the ship's intercom; apparently they had a glitch in their communication system, much to all the padawans' delight.

Raven had been busy working with the goyts in their cargo bay but left them at this announcement to join the others. "The goyts are good to go," she informed Eeth and moved to stand by his side while he spoke with Drex. As they entered the atmosphere, Raven noticed that this planet was a lot more colourful than the typical jungle-type worlds. From a distance, the terrain was mostly pinks, purples and blues, with some patches of green and brown which Raven assumed were the woodland areas of Lucia. Their information had said that this was quite an unusual planet. Well, they were about to find out just how unusual soon enough.

Kaden was still without his lightsaber but was no longer sulking over it. Neither Raven (or more surprisingly) Flynt had so much as hinted at teasing him for having lost his weapon. That lack of attention was both a blessing and a curse, as Kade had been forced to bring it up himself with Raven and Flynt when the masters stepped through the open hatch to look around and the obvious became just too obvious. Thankfully this didn't result in teasing as he'd expected, but instead a contest over the worst punishments they'd ever gotten. Raven won hands down, her retelling of the last encounters with Eeth's cane sounding far too painful for Kaden.

Flynt thought he had her beat. He had brought up the time he'd disobeyed at Tree World and thought himself justified – that was until Lakhri borrowed Eeth's cane and he began thinking otherwise.

Raven inclined her head at Flynt's recollection. She knew from personal experience that Lakhri was unyielding when it came to punishment, and perhaps Flynt had gotten it worse. The difference was that Eeth was faster to resort to such punishment, she pointed out.

Kaden had never been given the cane before in his life. Force, it was horrendous enough just hearing about it, and the boy grimaced at both padawan's accounts.

The grimace had not gone unnoticed by Raven, and it set her to wondering; would the presence of something he feared make her job easier? Yes, yes, this wasn't about making her life easy, but if that happened to be the side effect of ensuring Kaden's compliance, who was she not to at least try it? It certainly had worked for Flynt and herself. Still, Raven had just turned nineteen years old and lacked teaching experience with padawan peers. Would packing such an implement be out of her pay grade? Probably.

"They're on their way back," Kaden told Raven and Flynt, looking towards the empty hatch where he could see all three of the masters returning.

Raven was first from the hatch. She sprang down and took up a spot by Eeth's side. So far Lucia's surface was as she had expected; hot, humid and, as she looked around and noted where they had touched down, diverse. They were standing by the fringes of what passed as a woodland area, yet to the right of them were flat, colourful swamps that extended as far as the eye could see. They were colourful and dotted with the giant rubber-like pitcher plants she had read about.

Eeth, Drex and Lakhri were satisfied with what they had found. This area of the planet was a nature reserve, as they had known. It seemed quite safe; there did not seem to be any dangers around that they had not been informed of. They had selected a largish island in a huge lake as the goyts' new habitat. Despite their disk-shaped webbed feet, the goyts were not good swimmers and would not be able to cross over to the mainland. Thus, their impact on their new environment – which was going to be significant due to the huge amount of plants they ate – would be limited to that island which did not seem to be home to any endemic species. In what way they would interact with the local flora, which included a high proportion of plants that were susceptible to Force impulses, remained to be seen.

"Let's start with a small group of goyts", said Eeth. "If we are confident that they get along, will not be poisoned by any of the local plants and so forth, we can set free the rest."

"According to our files, the plants and fungi here are fast to regenerate, and the island will be able to comfortably maintain a symbiotic relationship between the goyts and their new environment," Raven assured them. But yeah, it was still all in theory and only time would tell. She hoped she was right.

As usual, Kaden was last to join the group, and he neither rushed as Raven had, nor did he saunter like Flynt. The boy strode to Drex's side, no-nonsense.

Drex leaned down towards Kaden's ear and murmured: "No need for you to have a lightsaber on you, as far as I can tell."

Kade looked up at Drex as he spoke and clenched his jaw tightly; he wasn't getting his saber back, and he hated that. "No, master, no need other than that of continuing my humiliation. Forgive me if I don't thank you for that," he said quietly.

Despite Kaden's efforts at keeping his response quiet, Raven overheard him. Initially, she thought nothing of it; Kaden wasn't typically a smartass, and Drex had more patience for such things than her own master. However, upon seeing Drex's expression turn stern, the padawan gave Flynt a nudge and beckoned that they busy themselves with the goyts. They needed to wrangle a control group in any case.

Raven had interpreted Drex's expression correctly; he was less than pleased with Kaden's response. "I believe I told you I have run out of tolerance for your attitude," he said calmly and firmly. Just as calmly and firmly, he took hold of Kaden's ear and bent him over. Then he proceeded to deliver half a dozen solid swats to his backside. "In case you want to complain further," he said, releasing his hold on Kaden, "please bear in mind that it can get a lot more humiliating than this."

Despite having been warned, Kaden had not expected this. "OW!" he gasped in spite of himself and present company. His ear burned to the point where he no longer had control over his body and he stumbled to Drex's side, bent over and stayed there as the man proceeded to land six powerful swats to the seat of his trousers. It fucking hurt, it really did, and it was all he could do not to jump around. He didn't, though. Instead, he gritted his teeth and stood when bade, his breaths a little ragged and his fists balled at his sides. He wasn't sure what could be more humiliating than being smacked like a child in front of Eeth and Lakhri, but nor was he willing to risk finding out. He sucked in a few short and sharp breaths, all the while trying to make it look like he had not felt it. Neither Eeth nor Lakhri looked as if they'd noticed, or if they had, they didn't give it a second thought.

"You done?" Kade asked stupidly in an effort to salvage what was left of his pride. He regretted it the moment it left his mouth, though, something that was evident by his wide eyes and involuntary step backwards. "I didn't mean that. The smacking was my own fault. I've got a bad attitude and I'll fix it right now," he rushed to correct himself. Kaden didn't know what the hell was wrong with him.

As soon as Kaden asked "You done?", Drex opened his mouth to say "not at all", but fortunately for the boy, he quickly backtracked. Drex could sense that his quasi-apology was sincere, or at least as sincere as could be expected under the circumstances, and he decided to accept it. "Yes, you go ahead and fix it," Drex replied pointedly, "because if you don't, there are a lot of bushes around that offer convenient opportunities to cut a switch. And I won't care who's watching. Now let's get inside and start our job."

The boy's face burned with embarrassment at Drex's words. His master had only ever used a switch on him once before, and the experience was now permanently etched into his mind. He had snuck off to go swimming after being told to meditate in his cabin during their last mission to Tnangan-at-Val. Why? Because he had had a bad attitude and needed to work on controlling his temper. He glanced at his feet briefly as the memory faded. That had been among the most painful implements he'd ever endured, although according to Raven and Flynt he hadn't experienced real hurt until he'd felt a cane. Kaden wasn't sure about that, but at the time had said nothing.

"Now go and help Raven and Flynt," Drex told Kaden as, fortunately for the boy, no more backtalk was forthcoming. "We'll be with you in a moment." Eeth and Lakhri were currently discussing the best way to proceed from here, and Eeth was calling for Drex to hear his input.

Raven was just about to call out that she wanted Lakhri to replace Flynt – his size was less intimidating to the goyts – when Kaden joined them. He was understandably dishevelled and looked uncomfortable, but she said nothing.

Flynt, on the other hand, had no such qualms. "Dude, either your balls are so big that you require help walking, or you're just stupid," he commented, making to smack him up the side of his head playfully.

Kaden caught his hand, the reaction lightning fast and his grip painful. "Don't. I'm struggling, don't piss me off." It had been a request but sounded more like a threat.

Unlike Kaden, Flynt had never had aggression or male pride issues. He was, however, a smartass to the core and he found Kaden's reactions as entertaining as they were baffling. He pulled his hand free. "Stupid it is, then."

Raven had had enough of this, and she stepped between the two of them before it could escalate. "Stop it. There are three masters outside this ship waiting for us to do our job. What the Force is wrong with you two?" The teen was exasperated and, to be honest, sick to death of putting up with unruly padawans. Flynt was not usually on her shit list, but he had just made it there. She cuffed him sharply, then repeated the process on Kaden. "I don't care if you're struggling, pull yourself together. You want me to start struggling, too? I can, you know."

Flynt winced; that had actually tingled a bit. He rubbed his ear. Thankfully, his height meant that she had only clipped his lobe. Kaden, on the other hand, had borne a full smack.

"Neither of you have any idea what it is to truly struggle," Kaden seethed. He absolutely refused to rub his ear, no matter how much it was ringing.

"What is wrong with you, Kaden? You're blowing this. Your master is pissed, my master is pissed, you're even pissing off Flynt, which is a feat in and of itself! The only person on this ship that isn't pissed at you is Lakhri, and I'm sure that's only a matter of time. Now, either pull yourself together, or I'm going to call Drex and I sure as hell wouldn't want to be you if that happens," Raven scolded.

"Whoa, whoa, hold your fathiers there. Let's not be hasty," Flynt interjected, knowing that if Kaden went down, he was probably going to join him for antagonising the kid. Lakhri had already called him on that once; a second time would be painful, very painful. "We've got a job to do, let's get it done."

As it turned out, the masters helped bring the goyts to the shuttle; it really was necessary to have six people work on this because it seemed as if every single goyt in the cargo bay wanted to join them. They were extremely curious, and it took all of Raven's mental stamina, plus Lakhri and Kaden darting after stray goyts and restraining them, to keep them from running all over the ship while Eeth, Drex and Raven carried the cluster of goyts they had selected to the shuttle.

"Let us give them an hour or so to explore," said Eeth when they had opened the hatch on a small clearing where the woods bordered on a fungal forest. The goyts had leapt out excitedly, the first of them already vanishing into the bushes. "Then, Raven can start tracking them down and we can observe how they are doing. We probably will not need six people to do so, though. Raven and myself, of course. And Drex." Eeth's choice of team was logical, and everyone knew it. Raven was their only expert on working with animals; Eeth was the leader of the mission; and Drex, while not being specialised on working with animals, easily had the best sense of the living Force of them all, with the possible exception of Eeth.

"So we get an afternoon off?" Lakhri asked with a grin. "How nice. Sure you don't have anything for us to do, Eeth?"

Eeth just gave him a raised-eyebrows kind of look, but did not rise to the challenge.

Drex, however, said: "If Kaden is to stay on the ship, and since Raven is unlikely to be free for Ataru lessons, might I ask you to work out with him and continue teaching him Ataru skills, Lakhri?"

"Sure," Lakhri said readily. Flynt would need a workout, too, but Lakhri would rather separate that from Kaden's until he had the boy's measure. Since they apparently had the whole afternoon, this was not going to be a problem, he assumed.

Kaden let out a sigh of relief at hearing that. If he was honest, the idea of getting out from under his master's watchful eye was appealing. Drex had him on zero tolerance which meant he no longer got warnings, just a good smacking. They were usually short, very painful and, much as he was loath to admit it, effective when it came to controlling his less than Jedi-like behaviours. He had hated it when the man did this during their training sessions, and he hated it even more now. He was fifteen years old, for pity's sake, and far too old for such treatment, or so he thought.

Lakhri's chipper agreement to Drex's suggestion drew the boy from his thoughts. This was a relief as Kaden had no problem with Lakhri. Sure, the guy was tiny, and he had expressed his doubts over the man's ability to strike terror into the heart of an apprentice as both Raven and Flynt had suggested he could. Still, he had no issue with his authority. Lakhri was a Jedi master, they weren't peers and he sure as shit didn't have a crush on the man; the dynamic was straightforward. So relieved was he to be out from under Drex's scrutiny, and free from Raven's classes, that he almost whooped in delight.

Flynt noticed Kaden's expression morph from his typical stoic glower to something he had rarely seen on the boy's face. Was that joy? Wow, he thought, it just might be, and that made him smile. "That could be fun. Perhaps I'll join in, and we can spar? We haven't done that since landing," Flynt encouraged, thinking the arrangement, if nothing else, would prove interesting to watch play out.

"I'd rather have a lesson with Kaden alone first," Lakhri told Flynt. "Depending on how it goes, we can have a joint sparring session after that, or tomorrow. If Drex consents to it."

"I do," said Drex after a moment's thought, "but, Kaden, if you notice your aggressions taking over, you switch to Soresu immediately, or you quit and meditate. Or you call me if you need me to help." He unclipped Kaden's lightsaber from his belt and handed it to Lakhri, who accepted it without comment and attached it to his own belt.

It didn't bother Flynt either way. He wasn't exactly glued to his lightsaber or obsessed with weapons training. He was far more interested in pod racing, spaceship engineering or the latest and greatest in speeder aerodynamics. He did quirk a brow at seeing Drex hand over the boy's saber, though; that would have smarted. And just as he expected, Kaden's face had regained its usual glower, only this time, his honey-coloured eyes were black as coal.

Kaden glared at Drex, fists balled and jaw squared as if ready to explode at any second. "Don't you think that's a bit too much? I am not a child. I can be trusted to carry my own weapon, you know." The words were surprisingly calm, considering the resentment he felt.

Raven stepped a little closer to Eeth. She had planned to give Lakhri a rundown on where they were at with Kaden's Ataru lessons but thought it in everyone's best interest to save that for the moment. She had seen Kaden look like that once before and it had resulted in an encounter she was not nearly skilled enough to handle. He was angry, that much was clear, and like Flynt, she could understand why. Raven had been forced to endure months without her weapon. It had been horrible, and she wasn't nearly as attached to it as Kaden seemed to be. Perhaps that was the problem, she mused, wondering how this was going to pan out.

"Excuse us for a moment," Drex said to the others. Once again, he took hold of Kaden's ear, dragged his padawan off the clearing and into the wooded area.

Both Raven and Flynt winced at seeing the boy stumble away, Raven probably more so than Flynt if only because Lakhri had not been able to reach his ear for many years now. Not that he didn't have other ways to make his point; he did.

"Ahhh," Kade hissed through gritted teeth, rising up on his toes in an effort at walking with some dignity. It was impossible, of course. There was just no way he could walk normally while being guided along by the ear, not to mention the pain: it really burned! Unsurprisingly, Kaden was oblivious to the sympathetic looks his ungraceful exit had garnered from his fellow padawans. He was intensely focused on his ear because nothing else existed right now.

Drex stopped at a cluster of rocks next to a creek. Releasing his hold on Kaden's ear, he opened his utility pouch and took out a jackknife. Normally, he would have ordered Kaden to cut a switch, but he was not sure the boy would obey him, given the current state of his temper. Thus, he said: "You were warned what was going to happen, padawan. You chose to disregard my warning. Drop your pants and bend over the rocks."

When Drex finally released him, Kaden's hands immediately flew up to soothe the burning lobe. It had brought tears to his eyes, but unfortunately, it had not blurred his vision enough to miss the knife Drex held nor was there any doubt in his mind what was about to go down. "It was just a statement! You can't mean to punish me for that." But as he spoke, his hands had begun to obey, fumbling with the clasp on his belt and discarding it. "Anyone would be humiliated if their weapon was handed over to another master for 'safekeeping'. Come on, this just isn't fair!" By now, his temper had been effectively replaced by fear, and he no longer cared where his weapon was. All he cared about was getting himself out of punishment.

Drex had turned away and was now examining a small tree with his fingers. Settling on a whippy branch, he cut it with his knife and started removing the buds. "Padawan, I am neither going to tolerate your attitude nor am I interested in discussing this with you," Drex said calmly. "Your pride keeps getting in the way of your common sense. That's a serious problem in a Jedi, and if this punishment helps resolve it, I think you'll thank me in the long run. Not today, I know. I don't expect you to be overjoyed at this. I do expect you to keep your mouth shut and your so-called statements to yourself, though. I call them complaints, and you know exactly what such complaints are going to earn you. If you still feel a need to voice them, that's your problem, not mine." He turned back, expecting Kaden to be in position.

When Drex turned on him, Kaden was standing there like a cattail frozen in headlights. His trousers were bunched around his knees, and a thumb was hooked in the waistband of his undershorts. Drex's words had been on the harsh side, but then again, Kaden was not a person who responded well to a subtle or permissive approach. He swallowed. There was no sign of Drex's typical fatherly expression now; he was a Jedi master rounding on his errant padawan who was backing the hell up. And by now, said padawan had backed right into the rocks, almost falling over his trousers as he pulled his undershorts to his knees.

Okay, so shit was trumps. Kaden was standing there in the middle of some strange planet, his junk flapping around in the breeze and bare-assed. There was no way he wanted to turn his back to Drex while he was holding a switch. For one thing, he wasn't a coward. For another thing, he had once asked Drex if any of his padawans had tried that; apparently, Taishin had, and Drex had come down on her like a tonne of bricks for it. Running was not an option. That left him with two choices: begging or compliance. He decided on an even mix of the two. "I'm sorry. Can you reconsider? Please?" He said quietly, turning to place his hands on the rock. He didn't want to bend over the thing as that would mean he'd be left dangling, his feet off the ground, and that was just too juvenile for him.

"Yes, I will reconsider," said Drex grimly. "In light of the fact that you still haven't fully complied with my instructions, I will give you a dozen strokes instead of six. Now either bend over or be ready to have the count raised again." Zero tolerance meant zero tolerance, as Kaden was currently discovering. Under different circumstances, Drex himself might have found it a bit over the top, but he was raising a Jedi padawan here, and one who seemed to have serious issues with his self-control.

This was not what Kaden had wanted or expected to hear. His eye twitched, and he looked back over his shoulder. Was Drex serious? Yeah, he was. The boy straightened. He had been bracing himself against the rock with his hands, but apparently, this was not going to cut it. He opened his mouth to protest, and then thought better of it. Before Drex could add more licks, he put himself over the rock. It was not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. The surface was cold and rough and he had to wriggle around so that his tunic was preventing his junk from being mashed off, although he figured it was going to be the least of his worries in a moment.

"I'm tired of having to repeat each and every one of my instructions and being forced to discuss them before you deign to obey," Drex said, stepping up to the rock. "This will stop. When you've earned a punishment, you will accept it and you will do as I tell you. When I tell you to bend over the rock, you do so, instead of trying to talk your way out of it. I get that you don't like being punished. If you don't want it to happen, lose the attitude and learn to keep your mouth shut."

This was an unusually harsh lecture for Drex who was typically a placid person. It showed how thin his patience was running with Kaden's behaviour during this mission. That fact was reflected in the vigour with which he applied the switch, dealing out a dozen strokes in rapid succession. He did not want to draw this out unduly and make the others wait. It was not a very thick or long switch; this was by far not going to be as memorable and painful a punishment as the switching that Kaden had received during their previous mission. After all, his infraction had not been all that significant. Still, Drex had no doubt that the switch stung quite a bit.

If the thought of being whipped with a switch wasn't enough to horrify the boy, Drex's lecture surely did the trick. It hurt, and what hurt more was that he knew the man was right. He had been warned ad nauseam and should have kept his comments to himself and his attitude in check. Hindsight was a marvellous thing… He buried his head in the crook of his elbow and scrunched his face. Fully expected a showdown to rival the last time he'd gotten a switch from Drex, Kaden tried to brace himself with little success, it was almost impossible for him to do anything but lay there given the position he'd been asked to assume. He couldn't exactly say that he was relieved, because although the smacks were not as painful as the first encounter they still stung mightily and the speed at which they were given made it impossible for him to recover in between. The sting was horrible, just horrible, and it kept building. Now, Kaden was no expert on switches, but his Kushiban crèche master had preferred to use a short length of doweling which stung like a swarm of bees leaving thin welts that disappeared in a few hours. He likened this experience to that; it was enough to have him hissing at each without reducing him to a bawling mess. Unfortunately, unlike his crèche master, Drex didn't stop after two, four or even six, he kept going.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team was waiting for the two. Lakhri had produced a stack of energy bars and a bag of fruit and handed them out. "Seems as if young Kaden is just as obnoxious as we all were at that age," he remarked, vividly remembering some scenes that had him question his own sanity in hindsight. Or Raven's, or Flynt's. "With the possible exception of Eeth," he added with a grin.

"Oh, at age fifteen I, too, was... obnoxious," Eeth replied after a pause. "It might have shown in different ways, but I was entirely too full of myself. I am afraid I gave my master quite a hard time."

"Surely not," Flynt replied, a crooked smile on his face.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Are you suggesting I made this up?"

Flynt raised his hands in a gesture of surrender but maintained his crooked smile.

Eeth shot him a pointed look but did not comment further. "In any case," he said, "my master was able to rein me in. Fortunately for Kaden, he, too, has a master who is fully capable of handling him."

By this stage in her padawanhood, Raven had heard quite a few stories from Eeth's apprenticeship. It had taken a great many years, but she had eventually gotten them out of him, or Lakhri.

"I'll give you a rundown of where we're at," she told Lakhri, effectively drawing the focus off Flynt. "We've concentrated on basic stances. He needs to improve his offensive stance. He continues resorting to powering through opponents by using both sheer muscle mass and his strong Force presence, that just won't work with someone skilled." She went on to describe what they had been doing, all the while feeling a bit sorry for Kaden who seemed hellbent on making life hard for himself lately.

After the twelfth stroke, Drex dropped the switch. "Alright," he said, giving Kaden next to no time to recover. "Down you get. Rearrange your clothing and let's go join the others. We've kept them waiting long enough." He was not mad at Kaden, per se, but nor was the boy back in his good books yet, and it showed.

Kaden obeyed immediately, jumping from the rock so as not to mash his junk off trying to slide down the thing. He stood, rubbed frantically at his backside and did his best to stand tall, fully expecting some sort of forgiveness or comfort from Drex. He received none. Unwilling to disobey or question even the smallest of instructions, Kaden yanked up his shorts and trousers and rushed to follow. Suffice it to say that when they arrived he was struggling to hide his discomfort.

Raven recognised it but paid him no mind.

So did Flynt. However, the teen did offer Kade a sympathetic look in an effort at solidarity; he'd thought Drex had been harsh, considering.

Lakhri also thought that Drex had been harsh, but he knew that there were occasions that required harshness. Kaden had been quite obnoxious in every aspect related to his lightsaber and his lessons with Raven throughout this mission, and he had been called to task for it by Drex several times. Under the circumstances, Lakhri thought being harsh was the best thing that Drex could have done because constant defiance and complaints could ruin every mission team. Besides, Lakhri had never been particularly tolerant with any type of failure to accept a well-deserved punishment, as Flynt had experienced previously.

Eeth, on the other hand, did not think Drex harsh; he thought that whatever punishment Drex had dealt out, Kaden had deserved it for his insolence. "I will take the three of you back to the ship," he said. "Raven, you stay here with Drex. Focus on the goyts and see whether anything requires our intervention."

"I will make sure she need not focus on anything else," Drex promised calmly. He rested his hand on Kaden's shoulder briefly. "I will see you tonight, padawan," he said. "When your lesson is over, please continue your school work until dinner. You will need to stay on top of it because you will soon be back to classes."

Kaden was still looking decidedly uncomfortable, despite his efforts to appear stoic. The idea of doing school work for the rest of the day didn't exactly thrill him, not that he dared say as much. Instead, he resigned himself to an afternoon of boredom. There were worse things; at least he wasn't lugging goyts around or shovelling shit. His acquiescence was quiet as usual but more subdued than was typical for him. He sat gingerly on the back seat next to Flynt, unable to hide the slight wince.

"That bad, huh?" the boy asked. Eeth and Lakhri were still speaking to Drex and Raven outside, so their exchange shouldn't be overheard.

Kaden just looked at him.

"For what it's worth, I thought that was a bit harsh. I wouldn't have been impressed if Lakhri handed my saber off to Eeth or Drex either. But that's the way things are. Sometimes it's hard to see what's in your best interest and you gotta trust the olds to know best." Flynt was trying to pull the kid from his blue funk without pandering to the sulking.

The fact that Flynt hadn't teased him over being hauled off and smacked was enough to keep Kaden from brushing the older padawan off. "Yeah, well, tell that to my ass."

Flynt shrugged and leant down, his head close to Kaden's butt: "Sometimes you just gotta trust the olds to know what's best," he repeated, but sat up quickly when Lakhri threw open the front door and Eeth joined him, getting into the pilot's seat.

Despite wanting badly to sulk Kaden couldn't help the small smile that crossed his lips at Flynt's antics. The teen was crazy!


	17. Chapter 17

When they were back at the ship, Lakhri said: "I'm gonna start with teaching Kaden Ataru. I think it's going to take us ninety minutes or so. Flynt, you can join us afterwards for a sparring session. Until then, continue your project report. Kaden, I'll see you in the small cargo hold in ten minutes."

He started the lesson with a fairly thorough warm-up – after all, he had been Eeth's apprentice, so being thorough was what he had always been used to. Then he ran Kaden through some basic attack sequences and noted that Raven had done good work, plus it was obvious that the boy had excellent Soresu skills to start with. "Let's work on disarming your opponent," he finally said. "Before we start on that, though, the slash that Raven started teaching you needs some more precision."

In the Temple, they had various kinds of targets specifically manufactured for lightsaber practice; here, they had to improvise. Lakhri positioned a crate in the middle of the room, stood a bottle he had brought on it and laid a ball on top of the bottleneck.

"Execute the slash and try to hit the ball, but not the bottle," he said. "Only when you've got that down, I'll let you try disarming me."

Their warm-up was tough, far tougher than anything Kade had expected, especially from Lakhri, even if Flynt and Raven had occasionally regaled him with horror stories about Eeth's and Lakhri's early days. The boy kept up, though, if only because Drex didn't exactly go easy on him either. Despite knowing that Raven, too, was Eeth's apprentice, she had been the least lethal in this respect so far, but he knew why; they had issues… Issues that had led to the most disastrous mission he'd been on to date. Her words echoed in his head: 'You're blowing this, Kaden. Pull yourself together. You're pissing everyone off.' He shook his head in an effort to refocus but not before the ball went flying, and it was not from his saber. Wordlessly and without waiting for a response he glanced left and summoned the ball to his palm. He set it back on the bottle's neck and ignored the fact that it was now completely flattened on one side.

Lakhri frowned. Losing control like that was not something he would have expected from a padawan as old as Kaden. "Do you need to meditate in order to find your focus?" he inquired. "Because if you can't reliably limit your use of the Force to your saber, I'd rather not let you spar against Flynt later."

It was a fair enough statement. Kade closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on anything other than Raven's classes, his horrendous failures and this clusterfuck of a mission. When he opened his eyes, they were focused on the ball. He looked left and down to meet the small man's gaze. "No, I don't. I have a lot on my mind. I don't usually." It was more than Kaden would typically give away to someone he wasn't well-acquainted with but he actually liked Lakhri and although his apprentice was a tad on the eccentric side, he couldn't help but like his style. Something in that confession helped rid him of his current woes and his face softened. He raised his saber and started on the exercise.

Lakhri watched him. Predictably, Kade ended up either missing the ball or sending the bottle flying. Since his saber was at its lowest setting, this did not do any damage, and it was no more than Lakhri had expected. After all, Raven had told him that she had only just started teaching Kaden this move and it was not one that was part of a Soresu repertoire either. Achieving the necessary precision always took some time and practice. "It might work better if you closed your eyes and focused on the Force," he told Kaden. "At least it did for me when I learned this."

Kaden was disappointed. Apparently, his Ataru skills had dwindled to the point where he could no longer hit a fucking ball on a bottle. The boy held his disappointment and the subsequent frustration this caused in check, though, and followed Lakhri's lead. They worked at this for a long time. He would get it once, and then his next effort would miss. It was something he really was going to have to work on, not that he liked admitting as much. Secretly, he blamed three years of Soresu for his lack of ability in his natural style. Although he didn't resent Drex for this, it did grate on him.

Of course, Kaden's Soresu training had nothing to do with this; it was simply a complicated move. Lakhri did not remember how old he had been exactly when he had learned it, but it had definitely been some time after he had become Eeth's padawan and thus not something taught to beginners. Lakhri's control of the Force had always been very good, but despite that, he had needed quite a bit of practice before he had been able to execute this move with the degree of precision that Eeth wanted to see, which was necessary to reliably disarm one's opponent. Flynt, who was not a natural with his saber although he was not half bad either, had needed at least two weeks or so to master it, as far as Lakhri recalled.

"Alright, you're making progress," he finally said after half an hour or so. "Don't use it in a real fight yet, though. You're not quite where you need to be – which is entirely normal. I bet even Eeth needed to practice it for more than a day or two until he got it right. Let's do some freestyle sparring."

'You call that progress?' Kade thought. Hearing that Eeth only took 'more than a day or two' when he himself felt this might take him forever made him feel inadequate. He squashed it, though, as the thought of freestyle sparring now had his full attention. He nodded in deference to Lakhir's instructions not to use the move. Then, out of habit, he adopted a Soresu back stance, only to correct himself and step forward into Ataru. It felt like putting on a comfortable pair of pyjamas to him. The style called to him, even if it could be dangerous.

They had about twenty minutes left, and Lakhri intended to use them for a sparring match. This was what padawans usually enjoyed most, especially after having been forced to work on tedious details. Besides, it would give him a better idea of Kaden's sparring style, which would be helpful when he later supervised the match with Flynt.

Despite this being a freestyle sparring match, he gave Kaden continuous advice, especially regarding his Ataru moves. "Don't forget your defences," he said, coming in low and forcing Kaden to back up against the wall. "Your Soresu is good. Use it when you need to."

"I do," came the clipped reply as he shifted sideways into a strong Soresu stance in order to circumvent being pinned to the wall; Lakhri was simple everywhere all at once! Determined to prove himself capable, Kaden shifted from that defensive stance the second he had an opening and threw a sequence that was half his and half Raven's at the small master. It was powerful, but not to the extent that it signalled a loss of control on his part.

Kaden was good, but Lakhri was more experienced, plus he had excellent Force awareness. He sensed what Kaden was about to do before it happened and managed to be somewhere else by the time it did, coming at Kaden from behind. "Shall I show you how to prevent that?" he asked conversationally while nonchalantly disarming Kaden. "Because in a real fight, you'd probably be dead now."

Kaden frowned, looking across the room as his lightsaber clattered to the metal floor and slid into the wall. He had begun to get used to that sight. Although it irked the kid no end, Drex's zero-tolerance policy had him drawing deep breaths at the first sign of frustration. He summoned his weapon and squared his jaw. One second he had been lined up and the next, his saber was gone! "Now how did you do that?" he asked. "Did you use Force-enhanced speed?" If he had, then that level of control was out of his league right now, well out; but it wouldn't be forever, he knew that.

"No, but I used the Force to increase my momentum," replied Lakhri. "Just as in Force-enhanced jumps. You should be able to do this. More importantly, though, I anticipated your move. And I have a bit of practice at turning my opponents' attacks against them. The same momentum that brought you forward made it easier for me to get in your back. I'll show you. I'll also show you what you can do to prevent it."

He demonstrated the move to Kaden and showed him where he had left an opening. "We can work more on that tomorrow," he said. "Right now, let's continue our match."

Again Kaden frowned, but this time it was as a result of Lakhri's response to his question: momentum, speed, one was the act, the other a measurement. They both reliably resulted in the same outcome, in his opinion: a fast movement using the Force. Still, he wasn't about to argue the point and remained silently curious as he watched Lakhri demonstrate. Then, he attempted to reciprocate. It was not something that took him long to pick up, but to master? That might take a bit of time. The boy huffed, lowering his saber and nodding at the man's instruction to continue their match.

Lakhri went a bit easier on Kaden now, still giving him the occasional bit of advice and adapting his own moves to Kaden's level of skill. After all, he was not out to frustrate the boy.

They fought on, Kaden doing his best to use his newly acquired Ataru skills while keeping his teacher off him. He was faster than Raven, albeit less agile, and he was far more relentless. He was everywhere and all at once!

It might be counterintuitive, but when sparring with his students, Lakhri possibly went less easy on them than Eeth. Maybe it was because he himself had always had to fight against his physical limitations. In any case, he thought he would be doing no one a favour if he went too easy on them because in real life, nobody would do so either.

'Easy' was indeed not something Kaden attributed to the match with Lakhri. He was forced into adopting Soresu for the most part as keeping the man at bay was proving a task in and of itself. Finding an opening to attack? Pff, yeah, he was having the same problem he had with Raven and despite trying to power his way through, it wasn't very effective; Lakhri was just too fast and Raven was just too agile.

Finally, Lakhri called the match to a halt and said: "Let's take a break. I'll get Flynt. Then the two of you can go against each other."

The boy deactivated his weapon, clipped it to his belt and dropped to one knee in order to catch his breath. It also left him at eye level with Lakhri. He nodded once in response to the man's words. He was looking forward to sparring with Flynt. The older teenager was far from a weapon enthusiast; it ought to be a whitewash on his part, something Kaden could use right now.

He took the opportunity of Lakhri's absence to run through some of the moves he'd learned over his lessons with Raven. She really was quite an energetic fighter and that style would work into his own well.

Lakhri went to check on Flynt's progress and fetch him. "Come on, you need a workout," he said with a smile. "Sparring against Kaden will be just the thing to prevent you from getting rusty."

Flynt sensed the man coming and he turned as the door opened, pad in hand and stylus poised. "Sparring against Kaden will be just the thing I need to prevent me from reaching my eighteenth birthday," the teenager quipped, but it was half-hearted. He didn't fear Kaden at all. He was, however, aware that with his arm the way it was, he wasn't going to provide much of a challenge, something which he conveyed to Lakhri as they made their way back.

Flynt wasn't half as bad as he thought he was, and Lakhri told him as much. "Talk about physical limitations," he scoffed. "If you think you have physical limitations, what do you think I have?"

"A lifetime to get used to said limitations?" the teen replied, giving a cheesy grin, but there was a hint of seriousness buried in his tone.

Lakhri rolled his eyes. "You're going to be knighted long before that and you'll be expected to pull your weight then. You're good, and as I've told you before, you could be loads better if you had more of an interest in lightsaber combat. True, you're not a natural like Kaden, but you're two years older than him, and I should hope that you've been trained quite thoroughly."

"Sure I have." Flynt made air quotes: "Keep calm. He'll go for my weak side, so don't let him, and, keep my defences up and wait for the opening."

Lakhri grinned. "I see that you won't need me for much longer," he said. "Good. Now, one thing you're much better at than Kaden is keeping your cool. Try to make use of that. Kaden is far from invincible. He does have his weaknesses. And you know enough to hold your own, really."

"The problem with that is to use Kaden's weaknesses against him would mean I'd have to goad him into losing his temper. I'm not sure that's in his best interest, especially given that Drex seems to have been coming down on him hard lately," Flynt said, pausing before entering the training room.

"Well, no, you had better not goad him," Lakhri conceded. He knew that even without being goaded, though, Kaden tended to become frustrated with opponents who held out too long. And if that happened, that wasn't Flynt's fault.

They entered the room to find Kaden running through a high-level Ataru move with mixed success. "Heya, Kade. Looks like you need to put some more height into that jump, otherwise, you're gonna land on your face when you try to move into the part that comes next," Flynt observed.

Kaden landed in a low crouch, saber poised and looked up at Flynt. He stood, deactivated his saber and shrugged. "I don't know the part that comes next."

"Well, in order to learn the part that comes next, you'll need some serious high-level Force control,"Lakhri told Kaden. "Raven or I can teach you, but Drex would have to help. We can talk to him tonight. Flynt, warm up for a bit. Then the two of you can get started."

Flynt started on a kata. It was a basic Ataru sequence that he'd learned in his first few years in junior crèche; simple but effective.

"Why would Drex need to help?" Kaden asked, swiping a hand across his forehead. He wasn't saying it aloud, but the inference was that he'd rather be under his master's supervision as little as possible at the moment.

"Because," Lakhri replied, "he shares a training bond with you, he knows where you are and what you can do where Force work is concerned, and I assume he also knows how to teach you most effectively. And whether it's advisable to teach you at all, at this stage."

Personally, Lakhri did not see why not, but he knew that Kaden had issues and that Drex had his own approach to dealing with them. He'd rather not interfere.

Kaden waved the idea off. "Forget it then, it's no big deal. I'll just keep with this one. Like Flynt so aptly pointed out, it needs work anyway," he explained.

Lakhri raised his eyebrows. "I think," he said pointedly, "you had better leave it to your teachers to decide what makes sense teaching you and what doesn't. And that move will be of little use to you if you have no clue how to follow up on it. So, either be ready to learn the whole thing or drop it entirely – if that decision was up to you, that is. Which, I'm afraid, it isn't."

He saw that Flynt had finished running through his kata for the second time and said: "Alright, get started you two."

Kaden muttered something about the lack of control over his own life being nothing new, and turned to face Flynt, saber in hand.

Lakhri raised a brow at Kaden's remark. "No, it isn't anything new, I'd assume," he said. "You're aware that you're a Jedi padawan and all that, right? What did you expect your life would be at age fifteen? Fighting Sith Lords all on your own? Sorry to disappoint you, but it hasn't worked that way for any of us, and it won't for you either. Now get started."

Flynt raised a brow also but said nothing. Instead, he rolled his neck, circled his arms a couple of times and pulled his weapon as instructed. He wasn't big on fighting, he never had been. Still, the teen could hold his own, as Lakhri had pointed out. Although it wasn't going to be a stellar effort thanks to the unfamiliar arm, he'd give it a shot.

Kaden made to retort but was cut off by Flynt who came at him hard and fast. The boy might not have believed it, but Flynt was doing him a favour here. Continuing to talk back to Lakhri was not in his best interest, thus he took yet another decision from the kid and forced him to shut up.

Okay, so that was the last thing Kaden expected from the placid, wise-cracking Flynt. His saber was up immediately, his stance by default Soresu. And it was a good thing, too, as an attack like that had been something he'd have expected from Raven, not Flynt.

Lakhri had been told time and again by Eeth that he underestimated himself, and it had been true. It seemed as if Flynt was similar to him in that regard. Despite not being a natural, Flynt was agile, observant and intelligent, he was good at manipulating the Force, and he had received a thorough training; he was not half as bad as he thought he was. Lakhri thought he could be even better if he had more self-confidence and – well, more of an interest in sparring.

The two padawans fought for fifteen minutes, the advantage shifting between the two in equal measures. They were both enjoying the match; Flynt because he was improving the control over his mechanical arm and Kaden because, well, it was fighting and he enjoyed all things fighting.

Kaden tried to force Flynt into more aggressive attack and defence manoeuvres but was failing to do so; the teen was not buying into it.

Flynt wasn't buying into it because he a) wasn't an aggressive personality, and b) he'd been expecting it. Just as he had expected Kaden to focus on his weak side, which he also did. He used both of those things to his advantage, feigning more feebleness in his mechanical arm than was strictly true and lulling Kaden into a false sense of security. Then, he struck. He shifted his saber into his mechanical arm, a move that was so fast and unexpected that Kaden didn't have a chance to respond, and brought it up into the hilt of the boy's lightsaber, knocking it from his grip.

Kaden was shocked into silence; that move had truly taken him off guard. The second's hesitation he took to process his shock saw Flynt's saber at his throat.

Lakhri noted with some satisfaction that his pep talk seemed to have done some good. Flynt wasn't superior in technique or strength; Kaden was stronger than him both physically and in the Force. But Flynt had more experience and his calmer nature often worked to his advantage in fights even when he was technically weaker than his opponent. Just like Drex, it prevented him from easily giving up or being provoked into leaving openings. He sent a surge of approval through their bond when Flynt scored a point. His padawan had previously been wary of using his mechanical arm since he had not been sure of it, but he had gained a lot more control of it during this mission, and Lakhri was glad that Flynt had shown enough confidence to make use of that fact.

"You are exhausting yourself, Kaden," he called at the teenage boy. "Don't go in that fast. Especially not right after having lost a point. Flynt would have to be stupid not to expect it."

And expect it he did. Flynt continued to bat away the boy's attacks and noticed that the more nonplussed he seemed by Kaden's efforts, the more ferocious they became.

The approval across their bond was met with a tiny smile that only Lakhri would have detected. He was doing well here, better than he had expected considering his arm and the strength and skill of his opponent.

Kaden took that advice and pulled back a little. Eventually, he did take a point. It was a bold move, too, hard, fast and devastating. He had been aiming to disarm the older teen. However, he had foolishly waited until Flynt changed hands again and aimed the attack at his mechanical arm. That had been a mistake. The arm might be 'weaker', but it was only a notional weakness. The actual strength in that hand was that of a robotic arm and many times superior to a human's. Thus, Flynt kept a hold of his lightsaber, despite losing the point. Emboldened, Kaden stepped it up again, and again he took a point. He was getting more confident, more aggressive and more ferocious. The boy knew what was happening: he was starting to let the power take over and he was drawing on the aggression rather than channel it into the Force. He held his saber to the side in the universal signal to stop.

Flynt did so immediately, withdrawing his attack and holding his own blade in the same position. He looked to Lakhri for instructions.

"I have to either stop or switch to Soresu," Kaden told Lakhri in a clipped tone. He was clearly annoyed at having to give up his opportunity to continue this fight. Then again, where it was going had no pleasant end.

Lakhri was close to stopping the fight himself when Kaden asked for a break. He was rather positively surprised by the request. "Switch to Soresu, then," he said. "Flynt has little experience sparring against opponents who use Soresu. It will do him some good." He smiled at Kaden. "And well done," he added. "Both of you, actually."

"Piffle," Flynt said in response to the 'it will do him some good' comment. He wasn't exactly bone tired, but he had fought hard against Kaden. Still, he obeyed without protest. He didn't mind doing all the attacking; it would mean he could focus on his left arm. He swapped his saber to his mechanical arm and waited until Kaden was ready.

The look on Kaden's face was a mix between tragic and resignation; he was pissed at himself, pissed that he had to lose his opportunity to fight and pissed at the universe in general. Lakhri's praise, however, had that feeling ebb a little. He looked over at the man, his saber still down and to the side, thus ensuring Flynt could not attack him yet. "Could we just stop instead?" He wasn't going to say it, but he didn't want to waste his time doing Soresu during what was meant to be an Ataru lesson. He could do Soresu until it came out his ears. Ataru – well, he wasn't allowed to do that without supervision.

Flynt mentally face-palmed at the egocentric nature of young teenagers. But again, he said nothing and just stood waiting.

Lakhri raised his eyebrows, again. It seemed to happen rather a lot lately. "I said," he told Kaden, "switch to Soresu. I didn't give you any options, so I don't know what you're waiting for."

"I was waiting for you to reconsider. I hoped you might. That's why I asked," the boy said honestly. "I hardly ever get a chance to work on Ataru. I have the rest of my apprenticeship to work on Soresu, is all." He kept his saber down, which meant Flynt was still standing there waiting.

"You said yourself that you'd better stop using Ataru for the moment," Lakhri said sharply. "And this is a workout for Flynt as much as for you, so, no, I'm not going to reconsider. Now kindly get started." For anyone who knew Lakhri, it was clear that he was getting exasperated and slightly annoyed.

Flynt gave the boy a meaningful look and stepped forward; he didn't attack, though, as Kaden's saber was still down. "Come on, I've heard your defences are pretty good. Let's see what you got."

Kaden's frown shifted from Lakhri to Flynt, ignoring the teen's advance for a moment. He looked back over at the small Jedi master. "Yes, but I meant that I needed to stop 'fighting' Ataru, not practicing it altogether. There are other things we can do," he clarified. "Fine, then. Whatever." And with that the boy raised his guard.

A split-second later Flynt was on him like white on rice. He knew that although his master was harder to push to the point than many others, when someone pushed him there, the repercussions were dire; he'd rather spare Kaden that experience.

Lakhri folded his arms across his chest. He did not appreciate a "whatever" response, just as little as Eeth did, and he was going to make that clear to Kaden when the lesson was over. Right now, the two padawans had finally started to fight and he did not want to interrupt the match.

Kaden's Soresu was good; so much so that Flynt was not able to score a point even though Lakhri gave him the occasional bit of advice. He made a mental note to start teaching Flynt how to deal with defensive opponents. Not now, though; there was no point in forcing Kaden to take the offensive again.

Finally, he called the match to a halt. "Good match, both of you," he said. "Flynt, take a shower. Kaden, stay here for a moment. I need to talk to you. Oh, and give me back your saber, please."

When Lakhri called the match to an end, Flynt was feeling pleasantly tired out. He had made a bit of progress with his robotic arm this mission and that was continuing to improve. The teenager gave the two a mock-salute, turned on his heel and sauntered off to do as told.

Meanwhile, Kaden was nowhere near as taxed as his padawan peer. He was no longer sweating and looked entirely bored to death with the way the last part of that lesson had gone. His frown only deepened when the man requested his lightsaber. It was almost too humiliating an order to comply with, then again the alternative was having Drex find out, and that was to be avoided at all cost, even his pride. Jedi weren't meant to have pride, he silently scolded himself as he handed his weapon over, gaze lowered and head down. It was clear that he found this incredibly humiliating and was working to keep his frustration at bay. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked, arms crossed about his chest.

"I don't know if Drex is taking any 'fine, whatever' responses from you," Lakhri said. "I don't. When I tell you to do something, you don't take an attitude with me, nor do you ask me to reconsider for no good reason. The next time you feel like not complying with my orders or giving me that kind of reply, get ready to have your ass kicked. And this is the last warning you're gonna get. Am I clear on that?" This was actually a pretty drastic lecture, by Lakhri's standards, but he had a feeling that with Kaden, it was better to leave no room for ambiguity.

"Firstly," Kaden stated, "I had a reason, I don't usually do things without one. I wanted you to reconsider having me spar using Soresu and continue instead with something Ataru orientated. This was meant to be an Ataru lesson." He gave the man a deadpan look and chose not to comment on Drex's expectations regarding his attitude. He simply gave a nod in response to his 'am I clear.'

"Funny," said Lakhri. "I don't recall having asked you for your opinion. Just for the record, having a reason is not the same as having a good reason. And I'm sure that somewhere deep down, you know that talking back is not in your best interest. Better cut it now and say something along the lines of 'Yes, Lakhri, sorry, Lakhri' because I'm really not all that happy with your attitude, as you might have gathered."

"It felt like a good reason to me," Kaden said quietly, trying not to let his displeasure at this encounter win over here. The man's comments grated. He looked down at the small master, frowned, but dropped his arms to his sides. "Yes, Lakhri," came the clipped response. "May I go, please?"

It had not escaped Lakhri's notice that Kaden had failed to apologise. The boy did indeed have pride issues, and Lakhri felt that Drex was rather doing him a favour by driving the issue home. He also felt that he'd better do the same so as not to undermine Drex's efforts.

"I haven't heard an apology yet," he said. "And I'm running out of patience, I'm afraid. Bend over and touch your toes."

The expression on Kaden's face went from a frown to surprise in a heartbeat. He looked at Lakhri, his expression bordering on outright incredulity. "Surely not…" he said. He blinked once, his eyebrows still raised in shock. Then, he shook his head, thinking this was ludicrous, and bent over, his hands gripping the tops of his boots. If the man was trying to humiliate him, he'd endured a lot worse, and he almost said as much.

Even if Flynt had not told Lakhri that Kaden was not taking him seriously, it would not exactly have been hard to pick up from the boy's behaviour. Lakhri decided to disabuse him of that notion. He was not going to use his hand because his arm was short and the swats he could dish out that way were not going to leave enough of an impression. Nor was he the type to carry a paddle around with him, as Eeth did. In the rare instances that Flynt needed to learn a lesson, he either took him home or he did what he started to do now, which was opening the clasp of his belt. He had no intention of making this an excruciatingly painful punishment; first, Kaden's offense had not been all that grave, and second, Lakhri would leave such things to Drex. He did, however, intend to make sure that Kaden knew he meant business. He doubled the belt over and brought it down on the seat of Kaden's pants with medium force. "You do not pull an attitude when I'm teaching you," he told Kaden and let a second stroke follow. "And when I call you on it," he continued, "you don't talk back. You apologise." He dealt out stroke number three.

Even as he stared down at his boots, Kaden did not truly believe this was actually going to happen. Surely this must be some sort of test. A mistake perhaps? Lakhri was trying to scare him or teach him some kind of token object lesson. Yes, that had to be it. There were two reasons he thought this. Firstly, there was no way Lakhri, being as small as he was, would be able to cause him much in the way of physical pain, at least not without… The boy's thoughts froze before he could progress to the second reason as the sound of a belt being unbuckled and several of the attachments placed aside drew his immediate attention. If Raven was able to hurt him as much as she had with a belt, Lakhri, having more than double her muscle mass, was going to be capable of putting some hurt into this. He almost went back to his reasoning of how this couldn't be happening, but by now he had turned to see what the man was doing, all guesswork abandoned.

The smack that followed had him screwing up his face, but that was the extent of it. Yes, it had hurt, as did the next two, although not nearly as badly as he had experienced. He gritted his teeth and focused on keeping his position and remaining silent.

Lakhri kept the first half dozen fairly moderate, all of which were endured by Kaden in his typical silent and stoic fashion. For the second half dozen, Lakhri considerably upped the ante. He wanted this to be something that Kaden would not want to repeat. This change in pace was rewarded by several yelps from the boy.

Just to make sure that Kaden got his message, Lakhri meted out two additional strokes after having completed the dozen, making these two truly spectacular. "The next time you feel like giving me an attitude," Lakhri said conversationally, starting to reattach his and Kaden's lightsaber and a few other utilities, "you will get a lot more strokes like these two. Are you ready to apologise now?"

Kaden didn't hear much of what Lakhri was saying. The blood was pounding in his ears, and his eyes were squinted shut tightly against the pain. Those last two had been worse than the first six combined. Apologise. He had caught that, and as the pain started to subside, he cleared his throat. "Yes, Lakhri, sorry Lakhri," he ground out, his hands now back on his boots. Although he wasn't crying, his voice sounded strained.

"See, if you had said that right away, you could have saved yourself that belting," Lakhri said quite kindly, closing the buckle of his belt. "I suppose your pride got in the way. Not a good thing for a Jedi padawan to indulge, I'm sorry to inform you. You can get up now. And remember: the next time you feel like giving me an attitude, those last two are what I'm going to start out with." He gave Kaden a grin that showed him he held no grudge and motioned for him to get out of the cargo hold.

When Lakhri next spoke the boy's head had cleared a bit, and he was able to make out each word, not that it was of comfort since hearing about his pride getting in the way yet again was not welcome news. He stood, stiffly, when bade and looked down at the diminutive Jedi master. His ass hurt but not enough to make him unable to keep from the childish act of rubbing. He responded to the grin with a grimace of pain and left the cargo hold without further comment.

He was striding for his private refresher, both hands thrust down the back of his trousers, when Flynt exited his room, freshly showered and smiling as he usually did. Kaden pulled his hands from his ass so fast that anyone watching would think they were on fire. It wasn't enough to fool Flynt, though.

"Lakhri isn't big on dishing out the ultimate smackdown on round one. You'll live this time," Flynt said cheerfully and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about it," Kaden said quietly and pushed the teen's hand off his shoulder. A second later the door to his cabin slammed shut, and Flynt almost flinched at the ferocity behind it.

"Dare I ask?" Flynt said upon entering the cargo hold, meeting his master's gaze.

Lakhri shrugged. "I was only going to give him a talking-to," he said. "Instead of apologising, though, he decided to pull an attitude. Not his brightest idea. And since it seems to be a constant issue with him, and one that Drex is working on, I thought I'd help Drex along."

Flynt raised a brow but otherwise didn't comment. Instead, he led the man into a conversation about the possibility of finding some sort of thrilling nightlife on this planet.

Kaden, in the meantime, showered and changed. By the time he exited the showers, he had recovered somewhat. Unwilling to face Lakhri again, the boy took his datapad and threw himself on his bunk. Classwork wasn't the most thrilling of chores, but it sure as hell felt better than reemerging at the moment.

* * *

Raven, Eeth and Drex tracked the goyts who had quickly scattered all over the woods. Eeth sometimes flew the speeder where Raven told him; at other times, they made their way through the undergrowth. The goyts seemed to be eating everything that could neither escape fast enough nor was out of their reach.

"I sincerely hope they won't destroy all plant life on this island within years," said Eeth. "The birds will not mind; they can cross over to the mainland. The goyts cannot. I think they should be monitored."

"As do I," Raven agreed upon seeing how fast they were hoeing into the ecosystem. "The flora here is meant to regenerate at a fast pace, and we have yet to see how introducing the Force-sensitive goyts to Force-sensitive plants pans out. I'm hoping that whatever happens, the end result is maintaining a symbiotic relationship. I'd hate to have to relocate them again." She looked up at Eeth. "Do you think the Council would send another team out for this same population again?"

"That depends on their Force abilities," Eeth replied. "We are meant to stay here for a while and observe. If everything seems fine by tomorrow morning, we can release the rest of the goyts, and then we will essentially stay for as long as you need to find out all that you can."

"More opportunity for Kaden to work with Lakhri, then," Drex said wryly. "I hope he isn't too much of a handful."

"If he is, Lakhri is perfectly capable of handling him," Eeth said. "He has a lot of experience teaching, and he has yet to allow a student to walk all over him."

"Small wonder, with you as a teacher," Drex said with a smile.

Raven agreed with Drex's summation, but she was still thinking about what Eeth had said. "I've no idea how long it will take to get enough information on the goyts' habits here to ascertain if they'll manage to survive without killing the environment. They shouldn't, but that's just an educated guess on my part. It might be better to have droids come in to monitor them over a period of time," she told him.

"That was not what I meant," Eeth replied. "I meant assessing their Force abilities more closely. We know the basics, but since their rescue was imperative, we did not have the time to observe how they draw on the Force, at least not in a natural environment. The Jedi Council will want a full description. I hate to point it out, but with millions of possibly endangered species across the galaxy, the Council will only allocate resources to monitoring them if they consider their use of the Force remarkable enough."

"Well, I don't need to tell you how I feel about that decision..." Regardless, she would do her job, and she did. Raven left Eeth and Drex and went to collect recording devices. This was going to be quite a task.

* * *

It was late that afternoon when Drex, Eeth and Raven returned to the ship.

Kaden was still holed up in his room, not coming out for anyone or anything, while Lakhri had allowed Flynt to explore the forest for the afternoon. Flynt returned just as Raven was unloading her equipment, aided by Eeth. "How'd it go? Are we going to release the hounds?" Flynt asked, rounding on his Jedi aunt.

"I think so, yes, they're adapting well so far. What the Force is that smeared on your tunic?"

Flynt shrugged. "Some sort of berry. It tastes a lot like chocolate, but with the consistency of wax. The oddest thing. I brought some back. Oh! And some of these." Flynt removed about ten wild onions and as many tubers from his pack, looking very proud of his bounty. "I'll take them in." And with that he disappeared inside to show off his prize to Lakhri; they both had an appreciation for food, after all. He tossed them down on the sink where Lakhri was beginning to get things ready to prepare dinner. "Check it out," he said proudly, upending his pack in the sink, clods of dirt, grass, bugs and all.

Lakhri quickly stepped aside to prevent dirt from getting all over his tunic. "Thanks," he said, peering into the sink. "I'll try to use this to spice up our spaceship stew. Could you check whether Eeth needs help? I bet he's exhausted but won't admit it."

"Sure. What's a little goyt shit between friends," Flynt replied and left to do as instructed.

Drex, in the meanwhile, slowly made his way inside. He found Lakhri in the galley preparing dinner. "How did the lesson go?" he asked, sitting on a chair and starting to pull off his boots.

"Well," said Lakhri, "it went alright for the most part. But your padawan isn't too happy with me, to put it mildly. One might also say he's sulking."

"He does that, yes," said Drex. "Why is he sulking?"

Lakhri paused for a moment to wash the biggest clots of dirt off the wild onions that Flynt had found. "After our lesson, I let him spar against Flynt," he said when the water had stopped running. "He couldn't overpower Flynt as easily as he had thought and his attacks got more aggressive. Eventually, he told us he had to stop using Ataru, so he would either have to stop fighting or use Soresu. I thought it was a good opportunity for Flynt to practice fighting against an opponent who uses Soresu, but Kaden had apparently hoped for me to either stop the match or teach him some more Ataru individually. I told him to follow my orders and explained that this was for Flynt's benefit, too. He had to be asked several times to continue sparring and gave me a bit of an attitude. When I told him off for this after the match, he kept talking back, plus his pride got in the way of an apology, so I ended up taking my belt to him. Not that harshly, for the most part; but the last two I gave him were meant to convince him to take me seriously. I don't know if it worked, but he did apologise. Since then he's been in his room."

"Thank you," said Drex. "I'm glad you handled it that way. Lenience has never worked well for Kaden. He's always had issues with his pride, but they got much worse lately. I've completely stopped tolerating any of it. It might help if he realises that others feel the same way about his behaviour."

"I hope so," said Lakhri. "He's not a bad kid at all. He's actually done a lot of hard work during this mission; I was quite impressed."

"Yes, that part went well," said Drex with a smile and rose. "I will look after him now."

"Alright," said Lakhri. He wiped off his hands, detached Kaden's saber from his belt and handed it to Drex, who accepted it and clipped it to his own belt.

Boots in hand, Drex made his way to their cabin, knocked briefly and entered. "Hello padawan," he said calmly. "How was your day?"

"Since I sensed your presence here ten minutes ago, and given that Lakhri has yet to leave the ship despite sending Flynt off, I gather you already know how the class went," said Kaden. "The rest of my day I spent doing as you said." He wasn't being disrespectful, just honest, and his tone conveyed as much as he held up his datapad with earphones attached for the man to take.

"That's good," said Drex, accepting the data pad and earphones and sitting down on the lower bunk. He did not put on the earphones, however. "From what I heard," he said, "the lesson actually went alright. And I'm very pleased you called for a stop to your Ataru match by yourself. And yet, you managed to get into trouble once again. Is it possible that your problem with your Ataru lessons is not so much the person who's teaching you, but yourself?"

"No," Kade replied curtly. "In this instance, it was a case of me wanting to learn what I was there to learn. Instead, Lakhri was using me to train his own apprentice." The boy shifted on the bed a bit. The belting he'd caught did not rate as memorable, but those last two stripes had left a couple of serious welts, the pain from which could still be felt. "As I tried explaining to Lakhri, I have all the time in the world to do Soresu. You rarely let me do anything else, and those few times that I am allowed to do Ataru I really want to do ATARU. Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?" He was getting annoyed now, and being annoyed with Drex while the man was riding him over his attitude was not advisable. He sighed. "It's not disrespect, master, it's just the truth," the boy said before Drex could fling that one at him.

"Alright, so this is how you feel," said Drex. "Specifically, you seem to feel that your desires should be more important than what your teacher thinks you should do or what others need. If you cannot see why this might be the thing that gets you into trouble time and again, you're in for a rough ride. I hate to break it to you, but not everything is about what you want, and I'm sure if you made an effort, you would see that, rather than sulking about how unfair everyone is being." He rose from his bed. "Let's go outside and meditate," he said, foregoing his need for a shower for the moment. "It should help you gain a better perspective on things."

"Everyone IS unfair," Kade muttered as he rose and followed the man. He wasn't fazed by meditating. If it helped him feel less frustrated over things, then so be it. "You can shower if you want. I can do this by myself. You can trust me to do as you say," Kaden offered, while kneeling where Drex bade.

"It would be so nice," said Drex with a highly unusual degree of sarcasm, "if you could for once manage to just follow a simple instruction and keep your comments to yourself. At least occasionally. It can't be that hard to do. I know what I'm doing, even if you don't." He had picked a shady spot next to a creek for them and now knelt down opposite Kaden. "Now stop sulking and link with me, padawan," he said quietly.

That comment hit the boy like a tonne of bricks. For once? And, what? He had wanted to be thoughtful. Okay, so he had also suspected Drex didn't trust him to be alone. He opened his mouth to say as much only to realise that he'd only be proving him right if he did. At a loss for what to do he did the only thing that wasn't going to cause him further grief: namely, he linked with Drex.

The second he did, Drex was met with a torrent of his emotions. Unlike when he'd hit Raven, though, he tapered the flood as he usually did. The first thing to come out was the guilt he still felt over doing that to Raven; it was quickly felt and released into the Force. The rest came in spits and starts. There was his irritation over Drex's zero-tolerance policy, then his gratitude for the fact that the man cared enough to not give up on him. Then there was his general frustration at being such an irascible personality of late. He hated that about himself. Finally, they came to this afternoon's lesson with Lakhri. Kaden shared how he felt, then tried to absorb what Drex was conveying. Had he put his desires above Lakhri's instructions? Well, yes. But that was because they were meant to be doing Ataru! It took another ten or fifteen minutes before the boy returned to that thought, and again he was met with a similar question. Was it his place to question superior Jedi? Well, no, but… Kaden frowned, but acquiesced, having gotten the point.

Drex made the meditation longer than usual. It was clear that Kaden was struggling with himself, with the demands of his vocation, and possibly with his hormones. When he finally stopped, it was dusk and a goyt family was sniffing at his sleeve, trying to find out if it was edible. Apparently, the rest of the team had changed the original plan to wait until tomorrow morning and had released the rest of the goyts who had become increasingly difficult to keep from becoming bored, especially the males.

"Let's go back to the ship," Drex said to Kaden. "And for the Force's sake, try to keep it together for the rest of this mission. None of us actually likes having to discipline you. Believe me, we could all do without it."

"You're not the only one," Kaden replied quietly, forbearing to rub at the two stripes that had blazed across his ass for the last few hours. They had faded considerably by now, however. He followed his master into the ship without further comment. He really was trying to improve his attitude.

When they arrived, they found Flynt helping Lakhri set the table. Raven was sprawled out on the couch, her eyes closed. This mission had been hard on her, and it was starting to show.

Kaden turned to Drex, looked down at his master's belt where his lightsaber hung, and he too closed his eyes. Typically, it took the boy a few days to stop sulking when Drex confiscated his weapon. This time, acceptance was happening a lot faster. His eyes opened again. Rather than obsidian, they were a honey brown, and rather than brooding, his expression was one of resignation. He turned towards their cabin, knowing that Drex needed a shower and not particularly wanting to stay here with the others.

Drex stopped him by resting a hand on Kaden's shoulder. He sent him a surge of approval and affection through their bond. "Help Lakhri and Flynt set the table, please," he said quietly. "I'll be with you in a moment." Just as he left, Eeth entered, freshly showered and, as usual, immaculately dressed. He nodded at Kaden, glanced at Raven and sat down next to the couch, resting a gentle hand on her forehead. He could do nothing against the fatigue, but at least he could ease her headache somewhat.

Everyone was genuinely glad that Lakhri had prepared a rich and filling meal of local tubers, mushrooms and vegetables. On top of it, Lakhri unwrapped a pre-packaged cake that he had bought on Barslaa.

"All of you are free after dinner," Eeth said to the apprentices, having checked this with Drex and Lakhri first. "You have worked hard. Raven most of all, but that goes for the other two as well."

"Free, as in free to do whatever we want?" Kaden questioned, looking towards Drex.

"I'd say that's within reason," Raven supplied. She was looking much better for the hour or so of rest she had gotten that afternoon, and had regained the usual healthy pink tinge to her pale complexion.

Flynt was about to make a joke about the definition of 'within reason' when he thought better of it. Lakhri's words on his developing status and his responsibility, especially so as a role model for the younger members of their team, had not fallen on deaf ears. "Two words: Sim Swords," he told them, pointing two mechanical fingers at first Raven, then Kaden before digging into his second piece of cake. It was delicious.

"You versus me, then Kaden fights the loser. Unless, of course, we can convince Master or Lakhri to join in?" Raven proposed, looking from her Jedi brother to Eeth, a grin on her face. She was enjoying the opportunity to relax for a while without the stress of responsibility. This mission had been an eye-opener for the teenager in more ways than one. She had always known that Eeth's job was demanding, but having been personally responsible to such a large extent to the success of their mission had been a first for her. Raven looked up at Eeth and gave him a small smile of gratitude that was probably lost on him.

Eeth was perceptive, though; he noticed the smile and, vaguely guessing its meaning, returned it briefly.

"I'll take the burden off Eeth and join you," said Lakhri. "Force forbid he should have to play and have fun!"

"Indeed," said Eeth drily. "Thank you for sacrificing yourself, Lakhri – although Raven tends to find my approach to these inane games funny, for whatever reason. I would be willing to play a round or two if you would like me to, padawan." He had no interest whatsoever in holo games, but he was aware that Raven liked him to play; and he really felt that she had outdone herself during this mission and deserved to be indulged.

"The fact that you refer to them as 'inane' is a case in point," Raven shot back, a huge smile on her face.

"Don't be so hard on them. Games have feelings, too, you know," Flynt said as if personally offended by Eeth's lack of enthusiasm. He wasn't, of course; he was just being a smartass and enjoying the banter.

… Ten minutes later, Eeth, Lakhri, Raven, Flynt and Kaden were holed up in their small living area. Eeth had been coerced into going against Lakhri first as the three apprentices had been eager to watch the outcome.

"My credits are on Lakhri," said Flynt. "He's had more practice."

While Raven contemplated the merits of both masters, Kaden announced that he agreed with Flynt.

"True, but you've seen Master on these things, he's brutal. He did a fatality on his first round of Kombat II," Raven said, still deep in thought over her choice of winner.

The three apprentices continued quietly making wagers between them until the game finally loaded.

Eeth did not play often, but he had indulged Raven occasionally. Therefore, by now he knew how these things worked. Wanting to get this behind himself as quickly as possible, he launched into a ferocious attack. Lakhri, however, was ready for this and used Eeth's momentum trying to propel him out of the game's range, which would mean an automatic loss. Eeth had not reckoned with this, but managed to make a backflip just in time. Unfortunately, the game had trouble processing the move at which it was performed. The hologram players flickered and vanished. "See?" Eeth said disdainfully. "This is why it is inane."

"Well, it isn't designed for Jedi speed," Lakhri conceded. "Plus, it's an outdated version. Flynt has a vamped-up version at the Temple that's quite fun. C'mon, let's start again."

This time around, Eeth flattened Lakhri within minutes. In the next round, however, Lakhri managed to provoke Eeth into a move that the game did not accept and to instantly "kill" him.

"Alright, that is enough for me for tonight," said Eeth. He intended to seek out Drex and keep him company.

The three padawans let out a sigh of relief as none wanted to forfeit a two-point disadvantage in their match as per the wager.

"C'mon, grandmaster, you should fight the winner of our match," Flynt said as he stepped up to Lakhri, ready to beat the tar out of his master. Well, he was going to try, in any case.

"I only promised you a round or two," Eeth pointed out. "Besides, I want Drex's advice on a diplomatic matter the Council contacted me about today, and he is sitting in the galley by himself. If you absolutely insist, I can come back later."

There were few things that Drex could not do on account of his blindness, and hologames were among them. Drex did not mind being alone; he was wearing his headphones and listening to a seriously complicated piece of electronic music. Nevertheless, he was pleased when he sensed Eeth enter.

The night off was much needed and appreciated by all three apprentices. Raven decided it was the most fun watching Flynt and Kaden since they had started competing to see which of them could get the most gruesome finishing move. So far, though, that honour was Lakhri's who had managed to somehow neatly cleave Kaden in half; the hologram made Raven wince but the two boys thought it was awesome. Lakhri didn't seem fazed, in any case, and played another few rounds before going to join Eeth and Drex. Raven peeled off next. She wasn't as worn out as she had been earlier but was looking forward to bed all the same. This left Flynt and Kaden to play on, and they did, right up until Drex stuck his head in to call Kaden away.

As much as he wanted to protest, the boy didn't. He'd had a fun evening and wasn't about to spoil it by pissing off Drex. Besides, he figured he'd pissed him off enough for one day and was honestly surprised not to be dragged over the coals for what happened during his lesson with Lakhri. Well, by now, the two welts he'd gotten had completely faded and all that remained was the beginning of a shallow bruise. He could imagine that copping more than two smacks like those would well and truly leave an impression, although – and despite Flynt's warning not to test him – he wasn't entirely certain Lakhri was serious about his threat.

All in all, it had been an enjoyable evening for everyone. Drex hoped that Kaden had loosened up a little and was ready to resume his lesson with Lakhri with less of an attitude tomorrow. The only ones who were going to be really busy were Eeth and Raven because Raven was going to monitor the goyts' use of the Force and Eeth was going to accompany her and note down her findings. As for the rest, they were free to work out, study, collect food, swim or even cross over to the mainland. They could all use the downtime.


	18. Chapter 18

Flynt emerged from his cabin still half asleep, one hand carding through his scruffy hair and the other scratching his balls. "Morning, grandmaster," he managed through a yawn. Eeth had apparently started making breakfast, and it smelled delicious. "Anything I can do to help?" he offered.

Eeth's scrutinising gaze slid down from Flynt's dishevelled hair to the hand at his crotch. "You might start by making yourself presentable and minding your manners," he said rather severely. "I do not know whether Lakhri approves of this type of entry, but I do not, as you should well know."

It was just far too early in the morning to be scolded, still. With a speed that belied his semi-conscious state, Flynt's hand shot from scratching his junk and moved to help smooth over his sleep-tousled hair. He was about to apologise and backtrack into his room when Drex entered the galley.

"I've always thought that being blind has its advantages," Drex remarked. "Do I pass muster, Eeth?"

Eeth snorted. "You know you do," he said.

He couldn't help it; Flynt started laughing, and not just a snicker, a full belly laugh that seemed to start from his toes. He clapped the elderly Jedi on the back and left, still laughing and wiping tears from his eyes; he did like Drex.

It was about then that Raven entered. Her long blonde hair hung loose but dry and was brushed straight, her uniform was immaculate, and boots polished to a shine. She glanced over her shoulder at hearing laughter coming from Lakhri's and Flynt's room and raised a brow. "Master," she bowed, then turned to the Hrakian. "Master Zaryth," she intoned. "Uh, what did I miss?" she asked, looking from Eeth to Drex.

"Nothing important," said Eeth curtly, busying himself with stirring the fruit sauce he was cooking to go with the spiced porridge he had prepared.

Drex grinned. "Eeth told Flynt off for his appearance," he told Raven. "I couldn't see it, obviously. But since Eeth seems to feel responsible for our looks, I asked him whether I pass muster. Flynt found it funny, apparently."

"I do not feel responsible for your looks," Eeth pointed out, carrying the porridge to the table. "Having breakfast with people in pyjama pants and messy hair simply irritates me, and I know that Flynt knows it. He might have shown some consideration."

"Certainly," said Drex mildly, sitting down. "I made a joke, Eeth. No reason to justify yourself."

Eeth raised his eyebrows. It had been a long time since someone had last told him he was seeking to justify himself. But it was probably true. It was a feeling he was not quite used to.

It was at that moment that Kaden entered. The boy had donned his tunic – something he wouldn't usually have bothered with – but he wasn't keen on pissing anyone off given the last few days. He stretched tall, glanced at Raven who looked… Well, like she was trying to keep from laughing. Weirdos… he thought, scrubbing a hand through his spiky padawan's cut. "Morning all," he greeted them and moved to stand by Drex.

"Good morning," said Eeth, setting the fruit sauce onto the table. "Now, where is Lakhri? I am afraid I will have to…"

"You won't have to do anything," Lakhri said mildly, ambling into the galley, showered and dressed, with Flynt in tow. "Besides, it's not even as if any of us, besides you two, will have terribly much to do today. But Flynt told me you made breakfast. Thanks. I appreciate it."

"You always appreciate food," Eeth pointed out, motioning for everyone to sit down.

"True," said Lakhri, pulling back a chair. "But I appreciate food that you make more. First, because you went to the effort, and second because you're a good cook. This smells great."

"It does," agreed Drex, handing his bowl to Kaden who usually served both of them since it was faster that way.

Kaden accepted the bowl, quickly serving his master, and then himself before passing it on to Raven. He was enjoying the banter around their table without input for now.

"It does, and it's far better than that bantha snot we had to eat on our last mission," Flynt commented, taking the bowl from Raven. After serving himself, he passed it on. "How much longer do you think we'll be here?" he asked nobody in particular.

"We shouldn't take too long. I need a couple of days to observe. Oh, and having master there will help speed that process along. But just a little," Raven teased the man, shooting Eeth a cheeky expression.

"True," said Eeth, unfazed. "I am not much good with animals. Raven was better than me even during her first year as a padawan."

Raven rolled her eyes; she had been joking, but she was well used to Eeth by now and let it slide.

"Don't worry about it," said Lakhri solemnly. "It's good for character-building, not being top at everything."

Drex grinned at that.

"Would you be willing to give Kaden another Ataru lesson today?" he asked Lakhri.

"Sure," Lakhri agreed. "When would you like me to?"

"I thought Kaden and I might explore a bit this morning, and maybe have a workout in the woods," said Drex. "He's been cooped up most of the day yesterday, after all. How about the afternoon?"

"No problem," Lakhri said cheerfully. "Flynt and I might go for a swim in the morning, then. He needs to practice using his robotic arm for swimming."

"Is that thing waterproof?" Kaden queried. It hadn't occurred to him until then that having a mechanical arm might pose a few disadvantages he hadn't considered.

"Sure is," Flynt replied cheerfully, ignoring Kaden's choice of words. "It's not as heavy as you might think. Biomechanics have improved out of sight over the last few decades; I'm glad they made me wait until I was older."

Kaden nodded, took another mouthful, swallowed than asked: "Are you planning to keep it looking like that?" he gestured to the robotic arm, the gnarled, mechanical fingers of which looked entirely alien while holding the spoon.

Flynt shrugged, then pointed the spoon at his master briefly. "Lakhri says I should have the synthflesh covering as there are advantages to concealing a strength, also a potential weakness. I guess it might freak the hell out of some people, I dunno." he paraphrased the man's comments. Lakhri hadn't ordered him to do it, though, at least not yet.

Kaden considered this for a moment. "So, if you're planning to get it covered, why didn't they just clone you an arm and be done with it?" he pressed, his interest piqued.

Raven snorted.

Flynt just chuckled. "Who do you think we are, Muun Imperialists or something?" Flynt guffawed. Upon receiving nothing more than a blank expression, he elaborated. "Cybernetic replacements are cheap, effective and safe. Cloning limbs is none of those."

"I doubt the Temple would fund such an extravagance. We rely on taxes after all," Raven added her two credits' worth.

Kaden's brow furrowed slightly at that. Secretly, he thought that, in light of the fact that they devoted their lives to protecting the galaxy, at the least, they could give Flynt a proper arm! He said nothing of his thoughts, though. Over the course of breakfast, Flynt continued fielding questions about his arm. That was until they started discussing exactly how the synth-net neural interface connected to his own flesh and he made to pull up his sleeve.

"Eww, no, seriously. I'm trying to eat breakfast, you two are putting me off my porridge," Raven complained. She was only half-serious, but still…

After breakfast, Drex offered to do the dishes, together with Kaden. Eeth and Raven left to observe the goyts while Lakhri took Flynt to the beach. Lakhri was not a good swimmer due to the shortness of his arms and legs, but he had learned to draw on the Force in order to enhance his abilities and could hold his own.

Flynt had never been a good swimmer either, thanks to his disfigured arm, and he was not quite as good at using the Force to cover up his physical disabilities as Lakhri. Nevertheless, Lakhri had taken him swimming regularly to make sure he had at least average skill. He was interested to see what Flynt was going to be able to do with his new arm or whether the stronger robotic limb would cause him to swim in circles.

When they had cleaned up the kitchen, Drex asked Kaden: "What would you like to do for a workout? Shall we go swimming, too? Or practice kata somewhere in the woods? Have a Soresu lesson? Climb trees?" He tried to make use of the available natural terrain during missions whenever they had the time and opportunity to do so. It might come in handy any time, and besides, it was a change from the monotonous Temple routine.

"Let's climb trees. I haven't done that since crèche. I used to spend hours of my free time doing that. K'Mi was always telling me off for going up too high," Kade replied. He had made an effort to visit her after Drex apprenticed him and she had taken time out to catch up with the latest in his life. She always did.

And so they found themselves two hours later, some twenty meters up and perched on a sturdy limb. Lucia was a uniquely beautiful planet. Kaden sat next to his master describing the view he had from this vantage point. Lucia had such a diversity of bizarre plants, fungi, and animals that he honestly could have talked for days. "When the sun shines on this part of Lucia, the environment glitters almost like it's made out of glass. I know that probably won't mean much to you but it really is something else too see. The galligrubs are similar to the goyts; strong ties to the Living Force." Kaden picked one up and dropped the wriggling grub into Drex's palm. "Slimy."

Drex listened to Kaden's descriptions attentively and smiled as he felt the wriggling grub on his hand. He had sensed them through the Force, of course, but had had no idea what they were like, other than their small size.

"Slimy indeed," he said drily, placing the galligrub carefully on the branch below from where it crawled away.

Kade pulled at a waxy leaf, his thoughts back on what Flynt had said earlier about cybertronics. "Aren't you curious to know what you're missing?" he said out of the blue, then expanded; as perceptive as the man was, it was a bit much to expect him to know what he was referring to. "Cybernetics, I mean. You could always turn them off if it bothered you."

"I used to think about it in earlier days," replied Drex. "It would have meant removing the eyes I was born with, though; and it would have required a lengthy adaptation process during which I would not have been much use. And ultimately, it would have meant for surgeons to meddle with my brain. It would have been a much more difficult and sensitive procedure than the one Flynt had. With a bit of a risk involved, too. The option just never really appealed to me and I was never pressured to have it performed either."

He smiled at Kaden. "I suppose I do miss out on things, yes," he said. "So do people who aren't Force-sensitive, but it doesn't seem to bother them much, does it? Anyway, I've been told I'm too old now. My brain wouldn't adapt."

"I wouldn't want anyone fishing around inside my head either. It's bad enough being in there by myself," Kaden stated, oblivious to the amusement such an honest statement from someone his age might cause an adult of Drex's years.

They sat there for a while longer as Kaden continued explaining the scenery, then moved on to the next tree. It was around lunchtime when the two arrived back at the ship.

"Have fun?" Flynt asked, smiling at the two as they approached.

"Yeah. I wouldn't mind some time here just to explore. I won't hold my breath," answered Kaden.

Flynt shrugged. "Stranger things have happened at sea."

"Speaking of sea, did you sink?" Kaden asked.

"Nope. As I said, it's not heavy. It's not much heavier than a normal arm. The extra power compensated for the loss of forwarding momentum, though," he explained. Upon seeing the puzzled expression, he held out his arm and elaborated. "Imagine trying to paddle a boat with an oar full of holes." He looked down at his master who had come out as he was speaking with Kaden and Drex. "I think you might be right about the synthflesh covering. I'll have it done when we return." At first, Flynt hadn't cared to get this final procedure, but it would appear he was finding more and more reasons to make that trip back to the healers. He shuddered at the thought. Having his arm amputated had been more of an ordeal for him than he let on. It had truly terrified him, but the only one who knew that was Lakhri. He guessed this was why the man had yet to force him to have it completed. Perhaps he was giving him time.

Kaden looked at Drex. "Are Eeth and Raven coming back for lunch, or are we cooking for just the four of us?"

Lakhri and Drex decided to just have a quick meal of spaceship food plus some fruit and vegetables from outside. They could cook properly tonight when Eeth and Raven came back.

After lunch, both masters took an hour or so to discuss their padawans' progress in their academic work with them. In Flynt's case this was mostly his robotics project; with Kaden, it was an array of lessons he had had to work on in the past weeks.

They had just closed Kaden's math file when Lakhri knocked on their door. "Ready for your Ataru lesson?" he asked Kaden cheerfully, sticking his head inside.

Kaden stood, stretched out his back and neck and turned towards the door where Lakhri was waiting for him. "Yes," he said and held out his hand towards Drex for his saber. He had hated that Drex had given it to Lakhri instead; it had bothered him that the man wouldn't even let him carry it 20 meters. How much longer did he have to wait anyway? Drex had had his lightsaber for what felt like an eternity to him. His brow furrowed slightly at his thoughts, but he wisely said nothing.

Drex paused a little, but then relented and handed Kaden his saber. "When you're done, give it back to me," he said. "I will go outside for a workout of my own for a while, but I should be back in an hour or so."

"Sure, no problem," said Lakhri. "We're going to be in the big cargo hold. Flynt will do some kata practice while I work with Kaden, and they can practice sparring again later."

Drex's hesitation caused Kaden to swallow; if there was one thing worse than having your lightsaber handed to another master, it was asking for it, being denied and then watching as it was handed over to another master. Thus, when the man put it in his hand, Kaden didn't argue at being reminded that it had to be handed back – not that he would have, at least not lately anyway.

The lesson with Lakhri and Flynt went smoothly. Kade enjoyed listening to the two banter; their easy exchanges were making it hard to believe that the small master had handed him his ass last lesson. It was not that it had been a particularly memorable ass-kicking. Still, it had been plenty embarrassing enough, and the man had a swing on him that he had not anticipated.

An hour and a half later, a sweaty, tired-out padawan followed the pair from the cargo bay, intent on having a shower. It was then that he recalled Lakhri and Flynt had spent the morning swimming. After finding out where to go, he entered the galley to ask Drex if they could swim.

Drex readily obliged and took Kaden to the lake. He also brought a fishing rod with him. The water was quite cold, but it was sunny outside and the air was warm. Drex really thought that Kaden deserved a reward for keeping things together, especially since they had no pressing duties right now.

"I'll try to catch us some fish after our swim," he told Kaden. "You're free to enjoy your time in whatever way you like. I don't assume there are any dangers here."

And Kaden did enjoy his time. He swam, first with Drex and then alone as the man fished. The rare time out to himself was appreciated as much as the carefree afternoon. He kept his antics away from where Drex was fishing so as not to scare his quarry.

When the man had not caught anything after the first half hour, Kaden contemplated asking Raven to help. "She might just lure them in and, presto, no fishing rod required," he commented. Drex informed him, though, that Raven's affinity with animals meant that she didn't like to eat them, let alone lure them into a position where they'd be killed in order to be eaten! "I guess you'll have to do it the hard way then," Kade acquiesced, still keeping his distance so as not to thwart the man's efforts.

Dinner that evening was a combination of the fish Drex had finally caught, some lightly steamed tubers, a leafy herb and spice salad with squares of some sweet pear-like pitcher plant that Flynt had found the other day, and a dressing that Eeth had come up with that complemented both perfectly. It was delicious.

"One more day and we'll be done," Raven said after swallowing another bite of her dinner.

"About time, too," Flynt added. He was eager to get back to the temple and finish off his robotics project.

Kaden, too, had had enough of the goyts – not that he complained, mind you!

In the course of their observations that day, Eeth and Raven had discovered that the goyts' presence enhanced the growth rate of the Force-sensitive flora on Lucia, which was a huge discovery and one that cemented this planet as the perfect one for the goyts.

During dinner, Drex and the other masters were discussing this, and their plans for tomorrow. Lakhri and Drex decided to take a trip to the mainland with their padawans after breakfast. There was some volcanic activity in an area that should only take an hour or so to reach with a shuttle. It might be interesting to explore.

"We could take food and stay there for the day," said Lakhri. "There's no reason why we can't do workouts and sparring lessons outside."

"Let us just hope it does not rain," Eeth commented. "It looked like rain tonight. Maybe the clouds will drift off overnight, though."

The weather, however, did not do them any such favour. By the next morning, it was raining heavily and the sky was a uniform dark grey in all directions.

"Your personal comfort aside, do you think you will be able to complete your work under these circumstances?" Eeth asked Raven as they stood at the hatch and looked outside into the torrents of rain. He knew that Raven would work in the pouring rain without complaint if need be, and so would he, but the question was whether there was any point.

"My personal comfort aside," she reiterated, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes. It's hard to say. It didn't rain on Barslaa while we were there so I have no idea how they will react to it. It might be worth braving it in order to find out."

"I'm sure not even goyts are crazy enough to go out in this," Flynt commented, stepping up behind the two and sticking his head out.

"Well, what else would they do?" asked Eeth. The goyts had not been here for long enough to build burrows that protected them against the rain; but at the rate it was raining, they might have had to leave them anyway for fear of being drowned. The trees were not going to offer them much protection either.

"Alright, we will check," he decided. "If we find that this is pointless, we will simply have to return to the ship and stay for a day longer."

"I was going to say it cannot possibly be as bad as Larivan," said Lakhri, stepping up behind him, "but on second thought, I will reconsider that statement." Larivan had been the location of the first mission he had conducted with Eeth and Raven, seven years ago. It had simply never ceased to rain on that planet.

"Yes, that is why we will wear raincoats," Eeth said drily. As a matter of fact, he had brought the RainTex coat he had bought on Larivan. Unfortunately, Raven's did not fit her any longer and she had to make do with standard Temple fare which was by far not as good, although it was certainly better than nothing.

"No volcanoes, then," said Drex as Lakhri returned to the galley and informed them of the state of affairs.

"No, definitely not," said Lakhri.

Kaden followed Drex, stuck his head through the group of Jedi that had gathered at the hatch and frowned. "Blast. I was looking forward to that," he said through a sigh; an extra day spent in the ship wasn't exactly thrilling news to him. He glanced at Drex briefly, wondering if he'd let him plan his own day or if he'd organise it for him.

"Wouldn't be much fun having to trudge through this," Raven commented and went back inside to get her rain gear. A few minutes later she emerged to find Flynt had started making breakfast. "What you making?" she enquired, lifting the lid on a pot and taking a whiff.

"It's supposed to be… Hmm, never mind." Flynt leant over the open pot of what was meant to be a recipe of cooked cereal and frowned. "Oh well, I started on pancakes in case it tastes like a Hutt's ass."

"Dare I ask how you know what a Hutt's ass tastes like?"

Flynt grinned mischievously. "I'm a man of many talents".

"Ew! The image, the image!" Raven dropped the lid and made to leave the kitchen only to run smack bang into Eeth. "Oh, master, sorry." She gave him a cheeky grin as he steadied her. "Flynt is busy making a Hutt's ass out of our breakfast," she supplied helpfully.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "I had better prevent the worst, then," he said wryly. He hung his bag of gear across his chair and stepped over to the stove to make sure that breakfast was going to be edible.

Half an hour later, Eeth had indeed prevented a disaster. He and Raven set off while the rest cleaned up the kitchen. "Same procedure as yesterday?" asked Lakhri. "Meaning, Ataru lesson an hour after lunch?"

"If that suits you," replied Drex, "it sounds fine. Kaden, we can do some kata work now, and then lessons. There is little point in going outside."

Kaden put the last of their dishes into the steriliser and finished wiping the table. A cleaning droid was buzzing around their feet, busy sucking up what had splattered onto the floor during the pancake making.

He followed Drex to the cargo bay and extended a hand for his weapon, his expression dour. "Can I have it back yet?" he asked. He hated being without his weapon, especially so given that he had built this one and had a strong connection to the crystals inside.

"We've been through the whole issue of patience, padawan," said Drex calmly. "You'll receive your saber back when I decide to give it to you, not when you ask me to. Trust me, I have not forgotten about it."

He unclipped Kaden's saber from his belt and handed it to the boy. "I want it back after the lesson," he said. "If Kaden was good during the next two or three lessons with Lakhri and Raven, Drex was planning to give him his saber back. But only then. And he was not going to tell that to Kaden because this was about a change of attitude, not about keeping this together for a limited amount of time in order to earn a reward.

The boy closed his eyes tightly. He hated this punishment, really, really hated it. He inclined his head in deference to the man's instructions but said nothing else that lesson unless asked a question. He wasn't sulking per se; he was just tired of being punished. He had managed to get himself into a world of trouble this mission, and that, too, was weighing on the typically trouble-free apprentice. It was always over his pride, his anger, his temper; Kaden rarely outright disobeyed or got into the typical padawan troubles. Sometimes, he wondered what was worse.

When Drex called the lesson to an end, the boy disignited his weapon and reluctantly handed it back. It grated, but there wasn't exactly anything he could do about it.

Drex realised that the monotony of this latest part of their trip wasn't helping, but with the rain pouring down outside, there was little they could do about it. Lakhri and he had been looking forward to taking their apprentices around on the planet, but unless Eeth and Raven decreed an extension of their stay, it seemed as if it wasn't going to happen.

Just like yesterday, they had a quick lunch after which Drex went through a couple of lessons with Kaden.

About an hour later, Lakhri arrived at their room to collect Kaden for their Ataru lesson.

"Here you go, padawan," Drex said, handing Kaden his saber.

Wordlessly, Kaden accepted his weapon, all the while attempting to hide the fact that having his lightsaber doled out to him as needed caused him embarrassment. Despite being able to outstride the small master well, he found himself deliberately slowing his gait so that Lakhri could precede him. He let out a sigh as they passed a window; the sky was black, and the rain was coming down in sheets. "I hope Eeth and Raven are okay," he commented, entering the cargo bay to find Flynt warming up on the opposite side.

"They'll live," Flynt commented. He held his saber in his left. He'd been working through manoeuvres designed to strengthen the connection between his mechanical arm and his weapon. It was going well. However, he still needed to improve his fine motor skills. His reflexes were also touch and go. He had accidentally snapped a metal spoon clean in half when it had dropped to the floor, and he had instinctively reached out to catch it. Yeah, he had to watch that for the first few months, according to the healers. He disignited his lightsaber, clipped it to his belt and moved to stand facing the two, waiting for Lakhri to give instructions.

Meanwhile, Kaden appeared a little impatient to get started, as he often did.

"We'll do this separately first, like yesterday," Lakhri said. "I'll continue teaching Kaden the moves we've worked on. Flynt, you could work on the Strong Winds kata in the meanwhile. Slowly. In an our or so, the two of you can spar against each other." The Strong Winds kata involved a lot of switching one's saber from one hand to the other; it was going to be good practice for Flynt.

"Like yesterday," Flynt reiterated jovially. He really wasn't fazed by the sort of exercises they did. Thus, he moved out of the way and began to run through the kata. At seventeen years old, Flynt had a solid grasp on the Force, and his style was well on the way to establishing itself. He did, however, tend to rush things, a flaw that this kata was wholly unforgiving over. This was something Flynt knew from experience as he'd fumbled his blade many times by trying to go faster than his mechanical arm could manage.

Kaden, for his part, followed the instructions as bade. Lakhri was a good teacher, and he wanted more from him, but the man kept him at the same level as the previous day. Did he not get to advance? Would he be doing the same thing over and over, day in, day out? Apparently So. The boy knew that it wasn't his place to question this, that his teachers knew best, but that just made it worse; he didn't get to advance, AND he wasn't allowed to voice his discontent. It was at times like this that being a Jedi was a constant fight for Kaden; intrinsically, he knew what was expected of him yet it felt like something inside was pushing him to rebel.

Lakhri sensed that Kaden was struggling with frustrations, and this only seemed to get worse as the lesson progressed. "Alright," he finally said, calling the lesson to a stop. "Kaden, I don't want your temper to take over. Meditate for a moment. Flynt, I think it's better if I go against Kaden first. If it goes well, we might switch later. You can take a break and watch if you like."

His temper was something Kaden knew well. Having Lakhri state that it was getting more than he could handle rankled. Still, he disignited his saber and stepped aside. "For the record, I am well able to determine when my temper is taking over. Now it is not," he stated crisply. It was the only way he could object to the instruction without actually disobeying it, while still giving the man a chance to listen to him and withdraw the order.

It would seem that Lakhri was making himself unpopular at the moment because Flynt frowned; he didn't like being told he couldn't handle something, even if he would agree himself. Unlike Kaden, though, the teen said nothing and sat on a crate to watch; this ought to be interesting if nothing else.

Lakhri glared at both of them, having registered Flynt's displeasure through their bond and thinking it inappropriate. "Your temper might not be taking over right now, but I don't want it to happen in the near future either," Lakhri replied curtly to Kaden's comment. "Meditate for five minutes. Then we will spar." He just hoped Kaden had it in himself to obey a simple instruction when it was given for the second time because if he did not, Lakhri would just have to impose some consequences.

Kaden only barely refrained from a counter. He wanted to say that the man was wrong; he was, after all. Still, he knelt and complied.

Flynt, for his part, turned a surprised expression on his master. "What was that look for?" he enquired across their bond.

"There was no need for you to wear that scowl," Lakhri sent back. "Kaden was nearly too much for Raven to handle, and you know it." He was not actually annoyed with Flynt, though, and he conveyed as much. After all, his padawan had done as he had been told.

Flynt gave a nod in response to Lakhri's mental communications. He had not been willing to voice his displeasure. At seventeen years old, the teenager had run his course at encountering his master's wrath. Almost. Sometimes? Uh, yeah, maybe… Flynt coughed once at the memory of his most recent foray into trouble. His shields were down, so Lakhri had been privy to that thought process. He gave his master a thousand-watt smile in response, carding a hand through his hair.

"Alright, let's spar," Lakhri told Kaden when the five minutes were up. "Freestyle. Feel free to use Ataru, Soresu or whatever else suits you."

"I feel like Corellian pizza, extra anchovies, olives and double cheese," Flynt commented randomly and raised a finger as if about to make a critical statement. "The sort with cheese in the crust," he added, speaking to nobody in particular.

"Drex took me to this pizza place once. They had stuffed some spicy meat and cheese into the crust," Kaden remarked, moving to stand where Lakhri was pointing.

Flynt didn't add anything else to that. It was not that he didn't want to, but Lakhri was trying to start the match, and here he was talking about pizza.

"Oh great," Lakhri said wryly. "Now I'm hungry. Oh well. I guess pizza'll have to wait until we're back on Coruscant."

Flynt grinned at that comment; he knew his master well.

Kaden, for his part, unclipped his weapon, igniting the blade as he did so. He hadn't needed to meditate and being forced to had just pissed him off more. Luckily for him, the meditation had quashed most of that irritation. Somewhat. He closed his eyes, focused on the Force and waited.

Lakhri launched into an attack sequence, careful not to go faster than Kaden would be able to handle, but fast enough to pose a challenge.

Rather than block that initial attack, Kaden sidestepped, flipped and came at the man with his own. He was sick of doing Soresu and intended to utilise every second he was free to use Ataru. His attacks were focused, powerful and precise. It would appear that despite not wanting to credit Raven for bullying him, his Ataru had improved since he had started lessons. One thing that Raven hadn't covered yet, though, was techniques used when sparring against differently-sized and skilled opponents. Lakhri was small and fast. Kaden was finding that his powerful attacks, although effective if landed, weren't landing in time. It was frustrating, and he wanted to shout that the man stop and fight, or at least stand still long enough so he could get a point.

Flynt leant back into the wall. One leg swung freely over the edge of his crate, and the other was pulled up into his chest. He knew Lakhri's tactic. It was very effective when dealing with opponents who favoured powerful attacks as it often tired them out.

It was a tactic that Kaden knew also. He'd fallen for it while sparring with Drex's grandpadawan, Quarg, and wound up being driven to exhaustion by Drex as an object lesson. The boy pulled back, a serious frown on his face at having to change tactics, but change them he did. He switched to a combination of Soresu and Ataru, trying to lure the man into thinking that he had given up his attempts at winning that point in any way that was satisfying to him. Kaden also knew what sort of comment such a thought would garner from his master: this wasn't about winning in the most satisfying way, and he knew that. It was just so much fun to finally do Ataru that he wanted to throw caution to the wind, if only a little, while Drex wasn't around to pull him up.

Lakhri did not share a training bond with Kaden and could only guess what was going on inside the boy. For now, Kade was keeping his aggression on an acceptable level. When he started switching to a more defensive style, Lakhri reacted by increasing the frequency of his attacks and the force behind them. He called out the occasional bit of advice, but refrained from interrupting the fight to give longer explanations.

Kaden was biding his time; he was using more and more Soresu to force Lakhri into attacking him. It seemed to work. Thus, on the man's fourth attack, Kade retaliated with a counter that was more powerful than any he had tried in quite some time. It took all of his focus and a lot of energy, but if he managed to pull it off, he'd get that point. It felt good, too and his weapon practically pulsed with his raw Force energy. It was untamed, albeit restrained for now. His skin prickled and the air around him felt static. It was an exhilarating sensation, yet he knew that to indulge in it would end badly. If only he could find a balance that would allow him to harness some of this power yet not let it overcome him! Alas, each time he'd done this around Drex, the man had thrown the Force equivalent of a bucket of water on him and forced him to meditate. Well, Lakhri did not share a bond with him, and he thought it worth the risk; sure, Drex would probably notice, and he'd question him later, but if he kept his shit together, he would be able to offer a credible explanation.

Flynt felt the air in the room prickle. He frowned, moved into a crouch atop his crate and watched closely. The attack Kaden was currently launching on his master was something well out of his league. The kid was organic, raw, but there was something unhinged about him that didn't sit well with Flynt right now. He hated to admit it, but his master had been correct in benching him.

Lakhri could sense more of what was going on than Kaden guessed, and he did not like it. He had been holding back so far, having learned long ago, when teaching Raven, that it would not do to keep wiping the floor with a padawan you were supposed to teach. Now he launched into a counterattack that was maybe not quite as powerful as Kaden's, but a lot faster and more precise. It had Kaden's attack run into empty space. Before the boy could change momentum, Lakhri came at him from behind, sending him stumbling. A lightning-fast swipe sent Kaden's saber flying.

Okay, so Kaden had anticipated that. As the man came at him, he made to redirect his attack, but it had been so powerful that he couldn't redirect it in time. He stumbled, tripped and, uh! No. Freakin! WAY! Not again. A sound that was half wail and half a scream of frustration escaped the boy's throat as his saber went flying. Again!

Flynt had been watching this with interest. Of course, he knew Lakhri could handle Kaden, but he was ready to jump in and help if he got too much. His help wasn't necessary, though. As the kid's lightsaber came hurtling towards him, his Jedi reflexes kicked in. He reached out a hand and snagged the saber out of the air. There was a disturbing crunching sound, followed by a few sharp cracks. Flynt winced. Kaden's saber was in his mechanical hand. He'd caught it alright. Unfortunately, he'd also crushed the thing! Well, good thing they had a spare on board…

The look on Kaden's face went from frustrated to indignant and finally settled on outright mutinous as his head whipped around in response to the crunching sound. "You bantha-pawed, clumsy-ass fuck! What the hell did you do!" the boy ranted, rounding on Flynt who was now on his feet, both hands raised in a placating gesture, the mangled remains of the kid's lightsaber dangling from his robotic hand.

"Relax, man; flattery will get you nowhere. It was an accident, and you know that. Besides…" He scratched at some newly grown chin stubble, "You said you wanted a demonstration. Well, uh, bon appétit?" Flynt quipped, shooting his Jedi peer an apologetic expression. He was referring to Kaden's request to demonstrate the capabilities of his new hand. His crushing effort at catching the kid's saber had achieved that, if not in the way he would have preferred. He didn't think this was a big deal. Kaden could easily rebuild it either on the way home or at the temple. For a padawan who liked weapons so much, Flynt hardly thought it would be something he would consider arduous.

For Kaden, this was a very BIG deal. The boy was seething. Not only was his lightsaber confiscated but now it was smashed too! What would happen to it next? Ejected out the waste hatch?! Upon seeing the remains dangling from Flynt's hand, he indeed thought the latter would be likely; it was unrepairable. He closed his eyes but was just too furious to focus. A combination of frustration over this last part of their mission, being punished by just about everyone on board, including Raven, having his lightsaber confiscated and the tight leash Drex had him on was all coming to a head. The destruction of his weapon was the straw that broke the banthas back, or in this case, the last of his patience. When his eyes opened, they were black as coal and lifeless. His expression was scarily calm, focussed. He was going to kill Flynt. Well, not literally, but he wanted to smack him around a bit at the very least. Without warning, he stepped forward, planning to do just that.

Flynt, for his part, was trying to take this as he usually did, being light-hearted and attempting to convey that this was nothing to blow a fuse over. Very few things had ever gotten such a reaction from Flynt; he was simply not wired up to be volatile. He could sense Kaden's anger, but the boy seemed to be controlling it. He frowned at his confrontational advance and posture. "You know, squaring off at me like that is unwise…" The teen was calm and he straightened to his full imposing height. "A word of advice, I really would reconsider." Flynt widened his eyes and moved them left quickly, signalling to Kaden that Lakhri was still in the room and he needed to get his shit together. Had the kid forgotten? Was he out of his mind? Because starting a fight right in front of a master was nothing short of suicidal.

There was something about Flynt's relaxed, jovial demeanour that was disarming and made it hard to stay mad at him. Kaden was still fuming, both at losing his weapon in the fight and having it destroyed. He certainly wasn't in a forgiving mood. He settled on shoving the teen, sending him back a few paces.

Lakhri grabbed Kaden by the arm, none too gently, and flung him around. "Stop this," he ordered. "Flynt didn't do this on purpose, and he'll certainly look into helping you repair your saber. But you have no call to shove him. Apologise."

"I won't," Kaden replied with as much dignity as he could muster. His expression, however, was decidedly wary; logically, Kaden knew what continuing this sort of defiance would get him, if not from Lakhri, from Drex.

"Dude, put a lid on it," Flynt quietly coached. Despite having been pushed around by the boy, he wasn't pissed. It was hard to piss Flynt off.

"For Force's sake, just shut up, please. You've done enough!" Kaden kicked his busted lightsaber, sending it into the wall and causing what little was left intact to smash.

Flynt looked from Kaden to Lakhri, then back again. The kid was starting to bug him now. "It's your funeral," he said without malice.

Lakhri stood his ground, not budging a millimetre. He was not impressed with Kaden's reaction. This belligerence had to stop. "Right," he said firmly. He Force-pushed Kaden against the wall and used the Force to immobilise him there. This was something that was typically done to small children who had no control of the Force yet. Few Jedi could pull it off on a padawan Kaden's age, especially one who was so powerful. However, Lakhri had always been exceptionally gifted at Force control. He had never done this to Flynt because he had never needed to, but it came to him naturally. "You don't shove anyone," he told Kaden. "Least of all a fellow padawan. You might have been mad, but that doesn't give you the right to give in to your aggression. You're going to apologise to Flynt. The only question is whether you want to make things harder on yourself before you do."

The look on Kaden's face was truly chilling. His eyes were black and his posture as rigid as possible given his undignified position pinned to the wall. He glared down at Lakhri. He could break free if he wanted to, break him, break it all if he just let himself go, let the anger take over. He wanted to. The boy closed his eyes, and when they opened again, they had a reddish tinge. He had to get control. He couldn't do this; it wasn't who he wanted to be. His gaze lowered and his eyes became lighter although he ignored Lakhri for the moment. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," he started, unwilling to let his temper get him in more trouble, or worse, let himself sink further into the Dark Side. If Kaden lost it now, he could very well take out more than Lakhri.

"Lakhri?" Flynt enquired quietly, unsure what he should do.

Lakhri shook his head. He realised that Kaden was very close to losing it, but was fighting to keep control of his temper. He also knew that Drex, who was somewhere on the ship, was going to intervene if necessary.

Indeed, Drex was very much aware of Kaden's anger, and he was closely monitoring him. He did not want to interfere with Lakhri if at all possible, but he also knew that he was the only one who could control Kaden if he really lost his temper. Fortunately, that did not seem to happen although it was a close call. Therefore, Drex refrained from barging in. After all, he trusted Lakhri to be able to handle his own lessons.

Lakhri, in the meantime, was waiting it out, giving Kaden time to calm himself down, but not loosening his hold on him despite the fact that this was quite draining in the long run.

"Master," Flynt said a little more insistently this time. Should he get Drex? Should he help, or do nothing? He didn't know.

"Don't do anything," Lakhri told Flynt through their bond. "Drex will come if he thinks it necessary."

It was all the reassurance Flynt needed, and he stood down. He wasn't about to leave, though, not unless Lakhri sent him packing.

Kaden was calming himself down. It had not been the first time he had managed to pull himself from such a rage without assistance; neither would it be the last, he knew. He opened his eyes. "Let me loose," he said evenly. Yes, Kaden could break free but not without hurting people, himself included.

Lakhri returned Kaden's look, considering. "I believe," he said, "I told you to apologise. Are you going to do that, or will you resume shoving people if I let you loose?"

"I will not shove anyone," Kaden agreed, his tone still strained. He didn't like this feeling; it was making him claustrophobic.

So he did want to do this the hard way. Lakhri felt tempted to roll his eyes, but refrained from it. "Fine," he said, releasing his hold on Kaden. He nodded his head towards the crate on which Flynt had been sitting during their fight. "Bare your bottom and bend over," he said. "I need to make a few things clear to you and I'm going to make sure I have your full attention."

When Lakhri released his hold the boy slumped forward a bit. It took him a moment to get his balance back. "Fine what!? I said I wasn't going to shove anyone, I complied, what more do you want from me?" he said angrily.

Flynt winced and scratched at the back of his head. He'd been in Kaden's position before; granted, not for the same situation, but for similar stupidity.

"Oh, I think I told you quite clearly what I expect from you," Lakhri replied, unfazed. "Three times. You didn't obey. And you're currently doing quite a good job at compounding your troubles by again refusing to obey. Now, bare your bottom. Bend over. No further backtalk."

Kaden opened his mouth to utter something about not knowing what the hell Lakhri was talking about when he caught Flynt's expression in his peripheral vision. The teen was dragging a hand down his face and shaking his head slightly, his eyes sympathetic. Kade looked from Flynt to Lakhri, then down at his belt. He didn't want this, not again! He called out for his master across their bond, then thought better of it; what would he say when Drex inquired as to how this had started? Wordlessly, Kaden strode to the crate, dropped his pants and undershorts and leant over the flat top. It wasn't comfortable, but nor did he bother adjusting himself; he was still far too pissed at this recent turn of events to care.

Drex received Kaden's call and sent back an inquiry. When he received no answer, but could instead sense a distinct mixture of anger and apprehension in his padawan, he shrugged. Most likely, Lakhri was going to call Kaden to task for his behaviour, and that did not require his intervention.

Lakhri, in the meantime, took off his belt. "You know that shoving others in a fit of temper is inexcusable," he said. "I understand that you were frustrated when you did it. That's why I didn't kick your ass but merely told you to apologise. It's not up to you to decide whether you feel like following such an instruction. Do you get what I'm saying?" He folded the belt over in his hand and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom, and this time, he did not hold back much; the stroke was quite spectacular. After all, Kaden had been warned.

So, this was about his refusal to apologise. Well, he had kind of known that but had been relying on semantics to get away with it. He remained silent, not willing to respond now any more than he wanted to give that apology. This stubbornness lasted until the belt connected with his ass and all thoughts of taking this with aloof stoicism went to hell in a handbasket. His breath caught in his chest and his hands flew up to grip closer to his backside, only barely preventing the reflex to claw at the burn. The second came far too soon, but by now he had managed to get in enough air to let out a cry of pain. And he did. "Owwchhhha!" Kaden was beginning to wonder if Lakhri was some freakin' expert because he was already in considerable pain and the man had only just started.

Lakhri was an expert at wielding the belt, not only because he had had Eeth as a master, but also because he used it frequently. His arms were short and not very effective at delivering handspankings, and he had for the most part refused to purchase any actual spanking implements because that would have felt too much like copying Eeth. So he had relied on whatever item was at hand, including cooking spoons, an old sandal, and his belt. Since he always had his belt on him, even in the training room or during missions, it had been put to other uses than as an item of his uniform quite frequently. So, Lakhri was an expert, which meant that he knew exactly at what strength to wield the belt now – enough to leave a strong impression, but not enough to render Kaden incoherent. "I'm the one calling the shots here," he informed Kaden, bringing the belt down a third time. "You would save yourself a lot of trouble if you just did as you're told." Strokes number four, five and six followed in quick succession.

"Ow, OW, OWW! AHHOwah!" Kaden bellowed, his hands coming back briefly at the sixth, only to be removed with equal haste. He absolutely hated having his hands pinned at his back. It made him feel like a child each time Drex did that to him.

Flynt was tempted to cover his ears because apparently, Kaden had a set of lungs on him. He didn't, though, and instead, he crouched down and began gathering up all the broken parts he could find that belonged to the kid's saber. He was planning to help him fix it even without being ordered to; he hadn't meant to crunch Kaden's lightsaber, after all.

"I apologise, I apologise!" Kaden hastened to cry out – because at this point, the boy would say anything if it would get him out of this.

"And what is it that you're apologising for?" Lakhri asked relentlessly, the belt poised for another stroke.

"For—" Kaden paused, cringing. He hated having to do this but neither did he want that belt landing any more than necessary. He started over. "For losing my temper and shoving Flynt." He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a sleeve as he added: "That was wrong because losing my temper is dangerous and I have help to control it if I can't. And for disobeying. I should have done as you asked when you told me to, not after you belted me." Kaden knew that usually the more incriminating details he was able to provide over his behaviour, the less likely he was to catch another swat. Well, with most teachers this was the case. He put more thought into it, what else had he done? "And for general obstinacy," he settled on because that one was usually true, and never hurt to add.

Flynt was still crawling around on the floor. His back was to the pair, but he was unable to help overhearing. He was surprised by this rather exhaustive summary; it was the last thing he expected from Kaden. Well, apparently the boy disliked his master's belt, and no doubt Drex's wrath, more than he cared about his pride. Well, that would be handy for a boy as stubbornly prideful as Kaden.

Lakhri, too, was surprised at this sudden abundance of compliance. Obviously, his belt had left an impression. That, or Kaden had started wondering what Drex might have to say about his behaviour.

"Alright, that was a satisfactory apology," he said. "Satisfactory enough to save you from having the dozen completed, actually. Plus, I really do understand why Flynt crunching your saber might have made you angry, even if he didn't do it on purpose. You may get up. Flynt, what are the chances of getting Kaden's saber repaired during this trip?"

"Pretty good," Flynt told Lakhri absentmindedly as he continued to crawl around on the floor. "Most of the parts are intact; they need rewiring. A bit of solder and a steady hand is all it will take."

"The crystals, are they..?" Kaden did not want to finish that question, but nor could he stop himself from asking it. He got to his feet, a pained expression on his face, and rubbed at his backside.

"They are intact." Flynt plucked what seemed to be the last part from the floor and laid them in a pile. "The crystals and individual components are intact," He looked at Kaden, ignoring the kid's discomfort. "The wiring will need work. I'll help you with that, I'm getting pretty good at this sort of thing," Flynt told him.

Kaden hefted up his undershorts and trousers all the same, though. He met the two with as steady an expression as he could muster. "I built it once, and I can build it again. Without help," he stated. He looked to Flynt, pulling out the front of his tunic expectantly.

Flynt dumped the parts he collected into the boy's cupped tunic. "I really am sorry, dude. I didn't mean to fry your saber. I'll help you fix it, but if you continue to refuse, then there is little more I can do. And I won't keep offering." He meant that too.

"Kaden," said Lakhri, "you will see your master now and tell him what happened. All of it. Exhaustively. Can I rely on you to do that?" If not, Lakhri was more than willing to march Kaden to Drex and tell him himself. He would rather leave it to Drex to decide on additional consequences. And Drex might also be better suited to convince Kaden to accept help.

With his ass still smarting the last thing Kaden wanted was to add to it, so: "Yes, Lakhri," he replied quietly, and with his busted up sabre still bundled in the front of his tunic, he made for his quarters to do as bade.

Flynt watched as his master rethreaded his belt, then crouched to be at eye level. "You all right?" It was an unnecessary enquiry he knew, but still, Kaden was not easy to deal with.

"Oh, I'm fine," said Lakhri. "I don't know about, Kaden, though. He'd do better to accept your help. Maybe Drex will be able to convince him."

When Kaden strode into their cabin, Drex was not here, but he could sense the man was not far away. He dumped the contents of his mangled lightsaber onto the desk, sighing at the clatter as parts hit the surface; this was going to take him ages to fix. He took a moment to wash his face, then exited the refresher to find Drex had entered their room and was standing by the chair, arms folded across his chest. The boy froze and stood silent and still for the longest moment before finally speaking. "I suppose you want an explanation?"

Drex said quite calmly: "I should probably ask for one, yes. To your credit, you did get your temper under control before you actually hurt someone. It felt like a rather close call, though. What happened?"

"It was," Kaden agreed equally calmly, although there was a slight edge of unease to his tone. He closed the gap between them and stood before the man, his hands clasped in front for lack of anything better to do with them. Sure, his ass still hurt plenty, but he wasn't about to stand there rubbing at it. He drew in a long breath, letting it out slowly. He didn't want to rehash this, not only because Drex was going to be displeased with him, but also because he was displeased with himself.

"I can't keep myself off of everyone's shit list!" he started, his tone angry. "I know my pride is a problem, I KNOW that it's not acceptable yet, I continue to land myself in it," he ranted and began to pace. It took him a while, and a few times Drex had to ask him to clarify things, but eventually, he got the story out, concluding with the belting, Flynt's offer to help him fix it and Lakhri's order to report all of this to him. Resigned, and not waiting for a response, Kaden turned and walked the few paces to their private refresher where he snatched Drex's brush from its place and stomped back out again. "Save your breath," he said, holding it out for him to take while his other hand worked to unfasten his belt and pants.

"Kaden, I might be old, but I'm not that old," Drex said, a hint of amusement lacing his voice. "You needn't save my breath. More importantly, this is not your call to make. And you really don't want me to think you're being impertinent about this. Return the brush and come back here."

"Impertinent! Impertinent? I rather thought I was saving you the effort of ordering me to fetch it. You're going to use it on me so why delay it? Just get it over with," the boy said, his brow furrowed and expression dark. He felt Drex was mocking him here.

"I was not going to, no," said Drex, and there was no trace of amusement left in his voice now. "But since you obviously know better, I will follow your lead." He took the hairbrush, pulled out a chair and sat down. "Go ahead," he said. "And while you bare your bottom, you might tell me what you're receiving this spanking for. I wouldn't know, but fortunately for us, you seem to."

"For disobeying Lakhri," Kade said, flinging his belt to the floor forcefully. "For getting into trouble during my Ataru lesson. AGAIN!" His trousers were unceremoniously shucked to his knees. "For shoving Flynt, and for my attitude in general which it seems just about everyone has taken issue with so far!" His undershorts joined his trousers in one curt, agitated movement. He stepped forward, anger clear on his face, and moved to the man's side. However, his ass was sore, so he hesitated; he really didn't want to do this. Having Drex insinuate that he somehow had a choice and had brought this on himself was making it worse.

Yes, Kaden had brought this upon himself, and no, he did not have a choice – which was the whole point.

"Get yourself over my lap," Drex ordered. "You insisted on this, against my explicit instructions, and now you will take what's coming to you. Personally, I would have thought the belting you received from Lakhri was sufficient to make up for your behaviour; I was much more interested in talking to you about ways to keep you out of trouble and about repairing your saber than I was in taking you across my lap. But once again, you knew better, and I'm afraid your backside will pay the price. If nothing else can convince you that obeying your superiors without questioning and backtalk is in your best interest, maybe this will."

"Wait! It was sufficient! I assumed you'd do this anyway. You will wallop me for sneezing lately! And…" The boy blinked, as the situation dawned on him. He eyeballed the man. Was this for not taking the brush back? Fuck, had he disobeyed again? And was he now by not bending over? Was he incapable of obedience? Apparently so, he thought as he stood there, both hands cupping his still burning ass. Unable to offer anything that wouldn't make this worse, the boy leant across his master's lap, his hands slapping onto the carpet and toes digging into the thin pile. If Drex nailed his ass with that brush, he was going to come unstuck. Fast.

Drex wasted no time in bringing the brush down onto his padawan's bottom with quite a bit of force. It was not the worst he had ever dealt out, but it was plenty hard enough to leave an impression, even on unblemished skin, let alone on welts. "Maybe you should just stop assuming," he told Kaden and swatted him a second time. "Or you might, for a change, assume that Lakhri, Raven, Eeth and I know what we're doing and that we don't need you to second-guess us." A third swat nailed the undercurve of Kaden's ass.

"OW! OWAH! OUCH! Master! Please. I'm sorry for second-guessing, for disobeying! No more, please. My ass!" The boy wasn't kidding either: the smacks had reignited the burn and set him on fire all over again.

"Yes, it's killing you, I know," Drex retorted entirely unsympathetically without ceasing to deal out slow, systematic swats. "And you have only yourself to blame for that. I don't appreciate being told what to do or how to punish you. Especially not with the attitude that you're displaying." He brought that message home with several particularly hard swats to the uppermost part of Kaden's thighs.

Given the state of Kaden's ass, it didn't take much to have him all apart, not that Drex was going easy on him. The few that landed on his thighs garnered sobs. The last one had him crying into the man's trouser leg.

At this point, Drex stopped. He lost little time in helping the crying adolescent up from his lap.

"Now for the Force's sake, take the hairbrush back to our refresher and bring me the bacta," he said quite gently. "Can you find it within yourself to do this without starting an argument? I would be quite grateful because, really, all I wanted to do was talk to you."

Still sobbing, Kaden stumbled to his feet, not bothering to pull up his pants. Typically, such a display of emotion would embarrass the would-be-manly apprentice. However, today he just didn't care. He nodded, swiped at his tear-streaked face and took the horrid thing back to the bathroom without a word. When he returned a minute later, he was still sniffling and tears were tracking down his cheeks despite his efforts at swiping them away with his sleeve. He shuffled over to where Drex still sat and handed him the tin.

"Thank you," said Drex. "Lie down on your bunk. I'll see what I can do to make your bottom feel a little better."

While he started gently spreading a thin layer of bacta across the thoroughly punished area, he asked: "Are you going to accept Flynt's offer to help you repair your saber?"

"Why, when I can do it myself?" the boy asked, scrunching up his face as the bacta started to work. He wasn't being confrontational, just honest.

"Because this is not about who can repair your saber better although I suspect that Flynt would be that person," said Drex. "It's about making amends. Flynt obviously wants that. Don't you?"

Kaden lifted on to his elbows and craned his neck to look at the man. "I already apologised for shoving him. If you mean Flynt wants to make it up to me, then…" The boy turned back to face his mattress. "I don't know if he wants to, I guess. I don't hold any grudge."

"That's good," said Drex, "but sometimes it helps to show it. Not everyone can look into your heart. And getting others on your side is usually preferable to doing things on your own. Flynt might have taken your rejection of his offer as a slight, even if it wasn't meant to be one. I won't force you to accept it, however. I would merely like you to think about it." He screwed the jar of bacta shut and sat back on his heels.

"The more important thing I wanted to talk to you about," he continued, "is how this mission has been going for you. Now, where our actual work is concerned, you have been an asset, and I know that Eeth thinks so as well. You have worked hard and done whatever you were asked to do, without complaint. And yet, you managed to land yourself in hot water far too often, usually over quite avoidable things. Do you have any explanation for that? I know it frustrates you, but it won't change unless you find a way to change your behaviour."

"Not really. I'm not doing this on purpose, you know. I don't know why I keep losing my temper. Things just seem unfair, I feel indignant, and I'm really tired of being told what to do by everyone. It grates after a while and I start to feel suffocated. I don't suppose you remember what it's like to be fifteen but let me tell you, it sucks."

"I know you're not doing it on purpose," Drex said patiently. "And being fifteen might suck, but the fact remains that it does not make you old enough to be exempt from following orders. Nor does being sixteen, seventeen or eighteen. And your lessons with Raven are continuing, too. So we had better look for ways of dealing with your temper, don't you think so?"

"I don't expect to be exempt from orders; It's just that everyone is ordering me around. Nobody orders you around," Kaden replied. He didn't know what to do about how he felt as being a naturally dominant personality; it was hard for him to submit to authority. He was trying although it was not always successful. He needed to work on that if he wanted to become a knight, he knew. How? Kaden didn't know. The boy sighed.

Drex laughed. "Of course people order me around," he said. "That's why we're here, among other things. It might not be as noticeable because I don't raise a fuss about it. I don't typically start arguments about my orders. That said, you're obviously ordered around more often than I am. I daresay that waiting for fifty or sixty years will remedy that problem. But that's not a practical solution to what's happening now. Realistically, nobody will stop giving you orders in a hurry just because you find it hard to follow them. We both know that. So the only thing that's left for you to do is to gain some level of acceptance of your situation - unless you want us to continue as we've been doing, with me providing constant deterrents. I can do that, sure. And as a matter of fact, I will. I just thought you'd rather avoid being spanked twice a day. And I'm afraid nothing short of an attitude change will achieve that."

"But they don't! At least not in the same way that they order me around, and waiting sixty years?" the boy huffed. "I won't make it that far. At this rate, I'll die from a broken ass." This sort of humour was very unlike Kaden. However, he'd been spending a lot of time with Flynt, and the older teen was starting to rub off on him a bit.

"Unlikely," said Drex drily, "although I can see why you would currently feel that way. Which is why I'm trying to have this conversation with you. Kaden, you might want to be treated like an adult, but it's not going to happen. You will have to take my word for it. Now, we could try to set up a meditation schedule that might help. But it's only going to work if you really want it to work and accept your status for what it is – that of a padawan learner who is expected to follow orders and trust others to know what's best for him. If you don't feel like accepting this and changing your attitude accordingly, the only kind of help I'll be able to offer is to provide deterrents. And I won't hesitate to do so consistently, without warnings."

Drex rose from where he was sitting. "Think about it," he said. "Make up your mind. I will invest the time and effort that is required to make you change your behaviour in any case; but whether I invest it into helping you change your attitude or into calling you to task for every bit of backtalk, insolence or outright disobedience is up to you."

Kaden's chin lifted to follow the man as he stood. He didn't want to be constantly punished. It was starting to get to him, not just because it fucking hurt, but because he seemed incapable of controlling himself at the moment. On the one hand, it was a relief that Drex wasn't going to give up on him; on the other hand. The boy winced. "No. I don't want that," he said and stood, not bothering to adjust his trousers as he wasn't keen on the bacta fusing his ass to his pants. "I don't know what to do. Apparently, I'm too young for the responsibilities I want, and I'm too old to get away with any mistakes. I guess I passed up just right when nobody was looking," he told the man, and at this moment he felt as if he was never going to pass muster.

Drex smiled. "Don't feel too sorry for yourself," he said. "You're growing; and being that age is never easy. Chatzis had quite similar issues, and I'm not even going to start about Taishin. Eeth tells me it was no different with Raven. Still, the demands placed on you won't change. If you can accept that it is your attitude that needs changing, a denser meditation schedule will actually help. And I'm entirely willing to take as much time for that as you need."

"Yes, master," the boy replied subduedly. Although he didn't show it, Kaden was relieved that Drex wasn't giving up on him, and hearing that he was not the only padawan to have a hard time of it was comforting. He had problems with his anger, he let his temper get the better of him, but there was hope!

As promised, Drex began spending an extra half hour each afternoon meditating with Kaden on acceptance. He also kept his word, as much as Kaden didn't appreciate it at the time, and consistently kicked his ass each time he started to rebel. It was working, too: the trip back to the temple was thankfully sans further incident in Raven's class. Most of Kaden's spare time was spent fixing his lightsaber, a chore that, as Flynt had correctly surmised, Kaden did not mind at all. He had taken his master's advice and accepted the tall teen's help, which meant it was back in one piece in no time, not that Drex let him keep it…

"Entering the atmosphere in five," Raven spoke into the faulty com unit, garnering a chuckle from Flynt.

"I hope they don't fix that, the entertainment value is far too high," he told Lakhri who was sitting opposite. At that moment there was a slight jolt, signifying that Raven had pulled the ship from hyperspace, and then a whining sound as the thrusters kicked in. The black atmosphere began to lighten and five minutes later they were surrounded by blue sky and a shitload of traffic.

"Welcome to Coruscant. Please return your trays to the upright position, collect all your rubbish and obey the safety instructions given by the crew. That would be me. So. Flynt, do fifty push-ups!" There was a quiet chuckling briefly before the communication cut out, although the smile on Raven's face remained. They were home.

"Padawan," Eeth said quietly to Raven as they made their way down the ramp, "you performed exceptionally well during this mission, and I will make sure to mention this during our mission debriefing. I have every reason to be proud of you. – But do not let it go to your head," he added in an afterthought.

Lakhri who was just behind him and had overheard the last part, grinned. "That's right, don't get too full of yourself," he said. "We wouldn't want two of Eeth."

Eeth turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "And what," he asked, "is that supposed to mean?"

Lakhri's grin broadened. "I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions," he said innocently.

Eeth decided not to comment.

Raven smiled at receiving his praise, and that smile morphed into a chuckle at hearing his exchange with Lakhri. Unfortunately, she was still under Eeth's tutelage and unable to get away with the sort of comments that Lakhri did. Thus, she contented herself with a chuckle and shot her Jedi brother a wink, silently thanking him for getting one up on Eeth. Of course this was all in fun. Raven loved her master and so did Lakhri; it was just so much fun to mess with him.

While Lakhri, Flynt and Raven bantered on their way to the council chambers, Kaden was quiet. He didn't want to go before the Council without his lightsaber. It was going to be humiliating enough if Drex brought up his issues during that mission. Fortunately for him, his silent, brooding expression was not out of character for the boy. Thus, none of the others noticed anything was bothering him. He was glad of that, too.

They left their bags with the Council secretary and turned towards the double doors that opened into the Council chamber.

"One moment," said Drex quietly and rested a hand on Kaden's shoulder. Eeth held up his hand, signalling for the others to wait.

The boy's heart sank. This was it; his master was about to tell him to brace himself for the final smackdown. The Council would surely be disgusted if they knew how much trouble he'd had controling his temper.

Drex, however, calmly unclipped Kaden's lightsaber from his belt and handed it to his padawan. "Since you managed to keep out of trouble during your lessons on our trip back," he said with a small smile, "and since you generally did an admirable job at keeping your temper under control, I think you should have this back." Kaden had even refrained from pestering him about it for several days in a row, which deserved some credit in itself, Drex believed.

This was the last thing Kaden had expected. He stared blankly at the saber in his hand.

Flynt clapped the kid on the back, a knowing expression on his face. The two had formed a close relationship during the trip home thanks to the fact that they had been working on Kaden's lightsaber together. Kaden hadn't whined, but Flynt had been able to tell the kid was miserable about being punished. Surprisingly, Flynt did have a serious side; he didn't show it often. He'd shown it during those talks with Kaden, though, since he wanted to help the boy deal with this if he could. He'd told him to be patient and that it would pay off. Well. The tall teen gave Kaden a shit-eating grin as he stood there, lightsaber in his hand.

"Thank you, Master," Kaden said, his tone still disbelieving. He didn't know what else to say other than that. He truly was grateful to have his weapon back. He clipped it to his belt, a small smile on his face as he followed Drex into the council chamber. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has followed us this far and a special thanks to those of you who have written us reviews or PMs! You keep us going.

We are going to leave Kaden and Drex for a while (but not forever!) and, as some of you have requested, write more on Eeth. Our next story will portray him as a young knight who has not taken on a padawan of his own yet. He's put in charge of a junior padawan, though. You will find the story "Eeth Koth, Jedi Knight and Babysitter" on our profile soon. After that, we will start posting our stories of Eeth and his second padawan, Raven. Be warned: we have loads of them!

If you'd like to read more on Eeth's youth, his time as Lakhri's master or the story of his third padawan, Lok, feel free to check the author profile of Livia Yoran. As you will see, Eeth is an extremely strict master character but he also has depth and he grows throughout our threads. So does Raven, eventually, despite many run-ins with Eeth's infamous collection of spanking implements... We hope to see you around! If you like Eeth and Raven, watch out for our next story. It's going to start soon.


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